03/10/2006

Source: LOHAS Weekly Newsletter

Author: Blackwell Publishing

Blackwell Publishing, the world's largest society publisher, has become the first global publisher to become CarbonNeutral and make a commitment to reducing its impact on the environment. The company operates offices in the US, UK, Australia, China, Denmark, Germany, Japan, and Singapore.

By becoming CarbonNeutral, Blackwell is aiming to mitigate the carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas, emissions caused by its use of energy, shipment of its books and journals, and business travel. These emissions have been cited as a primary contributor in increasing the Earth's temperature and impacting global climate change.

"Making the company-wide commitment to environmental responsibility and choosing to become CarbonNeutral aligns with Blackwell's core values and our mission to support the academic and scientific community," said Rene Olivieri, CEO, Blackwell Publishing.

Blackwell's CarbonNeutral commitment involves measuring carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, reducing them where possible and then offsetting the unavoidable emissions. In reducing its emissions at source, the company has reviewed current suppliers in an effort to use more environmentally-responsible suppliers and is working closely with its new printing and distribution partners, Singapore Post and Spring Asia Pacific, to ensure that these operations minimize adverse environmental impacts. Blackwell has pledged, not only to neutralize the effects of CO2 emissions from its office operations, but also on all global product shipments.

To achieve this milestone, Blackwell worked with The CarbonNeutral Company and the Edinburgh Center of Carbon Management to calculate its global "carbon footprint" and implement carbon offset projects to reduce the company's emissions to net zero. Blackwell is supporting a variety of renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable forestry projects in India, Sri Lanka, Mexico and Scotland that will save and absorb one ton of CO2 for every ton the company creates and which will contribute to the sustainability of local communities.

"It is very exciting that Blackwell Publishing has decided to take an industry leading position on the environment. We believe that if more companies were as environmentally aware as Blackwell Publishing and were to follow their lead: we could make a serious impact on the issues of climate change we face today," said Jonathan Shopley, CEO, The CarbonNeutral Company.

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