Nonprofit advocacy organization Green Press Initiative (GPI) announced that the U.S. book industry has passed "a meaningful environmental threshold." Approximately 50 percent of publishers now have environmental commitments in place—most with goals and timelines for vastly improving their environmental and climate performance. "This is significant due to the fact that as recent as 2001, virtually no publishers had environmental commitments on record …," according to a GPI press release.
This milestone was hit with the release of Hachette Book Group’s new environmental policy. The policy commits them to a tenfold increase in recycled fiber by 2012; a 20-percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; sourcing 20 percent of paper certified from the Forest Stewardship Council; ending the use of paper that may impact endangered forests; and a range of other initiatives.
When Hachette Book Group achieves the commitments laid out in its new policy, the company will save approximately 267,537 trees and up to 86,000 tons of greenhouse gases each year—equivalent to removing nearly 16,000 cars.
“In these challenging economic times, it is wonderful to see a company as large as Hachette making environmental stewardship a core value, and coming out with an industry-leading policy. This helps the industry to pass an important threshold and hopefully will motivate those larger and smaller players that are lagging to do more,” says Tyson Miller, GPI director.
- People:
- Tyson Miller
- Places:
- U.S.