Sustainability
As an independent publisher we understand our important role protecting the place where knowledge is shared—our planet.
We know there’s an urgent need to act quickly to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Therefore, we remain committed to meeting Net Zero 2040 across our global operations and supply chain.
We will meet this goal through prioritized action plans to reduce our carbon emissions and environmental impacts, working with our partners, stakeholders, and suppliers to explore more sustainable business practices now and in the future.
Our progress in 2022
Committed to meeting Net Zero across our global operations and supply chain by 2040.
Mapped our global supply chain to identify impacts and extended Book Chain membership.
Formally agreed three SDGs that aligned with our values and joined the STM SDGs Academic Publishers Forum.
Consolidation of office space to support new hybrid working, reducing energy use.
Delivered global sustainability events and workshops for our green teams.
Development of environmental and paper assessment for key global printers.
“As with most businesses we are at the initial stages of developing our sustainability strategy and roadmap to meet our net zero goals; however during 2022 we made great progress through gaining a more comprehensive view of our global operational emissions, enabling us to prioritize and focus activities as well as collaborating with our key stakeholders and suppliers to establish an aligned sustainability program and goals.”
— Jo Lacey (she/her), head of global sustainability
Carbon reduction facts and statistics
In 2022 Sage reduced global operational emissions by 4,921 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) compared to the 2019 baseline.
56%
Total tCO2e reductions since 2019
58%
Reduction in onsite location based energy
96%
Reduction from employee commuting
44%
Reduction in business travel
What does the e mean in tCO2e?
Simple CO2 measures only carbon dioxide, whereas CO2e includes all greenhouse gases (GHGs), but is presented as CO2 as carbon dioxide is the most common GHG.
Notes
Total includes Scope 1, 2 and 3 all business travel, employee commuting, home working and market-based energy.
Location based energy includes onsite gas for heating and electricity for power in offices and warehouses.
Employee commuting uses an estimated approach for all employees travelling to offices.
Business travel includes flights, rail, employee private vehicles and hire cars.
What are scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon emissions?
01
Directly emitted
Emissions from heating and cooling our buildings, plus owned vehicles.
02
Indirectly emitted
Generation of purchased electricity in our offices and warehouses.
03
Other indirect
Other ‘downstream’ emissions that we have direct control of and are not supply chain. Includes business travel (flights, car, and rail).
Total global operational carbon footprint
2019 Overview
Total: 8,807 tCO2e
2022 Overview
Total: 3,885 tCO2e
Global operational footprint (tCO2e) - by scope
Global operational footprint by activity (tCO2e)
Scope 1
01
Scope 2
02
Scope 3
03
Carbon reduction
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The 58 percent reduction in energy consumption across our offices since 2019 is due mainly to consolidating our global office space as we moved to post pandemic hybrid working.
As Sage predominantly leases its global offices, we do not have direct control over onsite renewables or energy purchasing contracts. Leasing does, however, allow us to choose modern energy efficient and sustainable spaces.
Our global offices pre-Covid were already designed for flexible working, and all office moves and consolidation during 2022 continued to focus on efficient and sustainable buildings that provide flexible and collaborative spaces.
Our UK sites have renewable electricity tariffs, and our office in London has renewable energy guarantees of origin-backed electricity, biogas, and onsite renewables. Once all office moves are complete during 2023, we will cover our remaining energy use with renewable energy certificates.
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Our emission reductions from business travel have predominately come from flights, a 43 percent decrease in emissions compared to pre-Covid 2019 baseline data.
While travel in the initial months of 2022 was restricted, we expected to see an increase in travel as the year progressed.
While Sage continues to value the importance of face-to-face meetings with new and existing colleagues, suppliers, and stakeholders, we remain committed to meeting our net zero goals and keeping overall emissions below our 2019 baseline both by using technology to stay connected and taking advantage of sustainable travel options.
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In 2022, we spent time exploring post pandemic working models and, as many other businesses, designing new hybrid options that met both business and employee needs while recognizing that a one-size-fits-all approach cannot be applied to all global locations.
This change to new working patterns obviously led to a decrease in emissions from commuting—96 percent compared to 2019—and while home working emissions increased, the overall reduction is 2,370 tCO2e.
As our new hybrid working model will bed down in 2023, and we expect to see commuter travel rise during 2023, however, we do not expect a return to 2019 levels.
We know the environmental and carbon impacts of our printed products, and wider supply chain, are much greater than our operational footprint, and collating accurate data and information across a complex network of global suppliers is much more complicated. While we are very much at the early stages of developing our understanding in order to set goals, develop plans, and report progress, we have made a strong start, including the following:
Mapped our print supply chain from forest to customer.
Asked our key global suppliers printers to complete an environmental questionnaire so that we understand their environmental commitments and progress. We found that 80 percent of those who completed the questionnaire had a company environmental policy, dedicated resources to manage their sustainability programs, and were underway with measuring scope 1 and 2 emissions.
Carried out a paper audit to establish certification assurances of paper used in printed products(, e.g. FSC, PEFC)
Taking responsibility to ensure that the forests where paper is sourced for our printed materials and products are legal and responsibly and ethically managed. During 2022, we extended our membership of the Book Chain Project to include the Environment and Labour module and continued to use the Publishers’ Database for Responsible Environment Paper Sourcing (PREPS) and to ensure all paper is accessible via PREPS and graded 3–5 star.
Continuing to expand our digital materials and print on demand and to assess and track how these formats affect our use of paper, our carbon emissions, and our impact on the environment.
Our supply chain
Governance and partnerships
Governance
We have a Global Sustainability Group with representatives from across all of Sage’s locations and business areas who steer and consult on the development of projects that support our strategy and plans.
Green Groups
We have active and engaged staff across our global locations including established Green Groups in India, the US, and UK who inspire and support each other, share ideas and resources, and develop workshops and events focusing on individual and collective contribution and lifestyle.
Partnerships
We are active members of key industry groups that focus on sharing ideas and supporting the development of sustainability tools, resources, and approaches to drive best practice across the publishing industry.
Green Group case studies
Sage and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Sage supports the SDGs in two core areas.
1. Firstly, and most impactfully, through our content.
Sage is a signatory of the UN SDGs Publishers Compact, designed to inspire collective action among publishers to accelerate progress and achieve the goals by the 2030 deadline.
In 2022, Sage also joined the STM SDGs Academic Publishers Forum to collaborate in curating and disseminating scholarly content for the highest impact and the widest audiences.
2. Secondly, through the goals that align most closely with our core business purpose.
In 2022, we formally agreed to adopt and report against three key SDGs:
SDG 4 – Quality Education
SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities
“Our supply chain work directly supports SDG 12, through our ongoing plans to understand the carbon and environmental impacts of our supply chain and establish targets and action plans in collaboration with our key suppliers. This ensures we have transparent responsible and ethical management of the natural resources used in the production of our printed materials.”
— Jo Lacey (she/her), head of global sustainability