At BookNet Canada, we’re committed to environmental sustainability. This is why we’re proud to announce that BookNet Canada’s 2020 operations are now Carbonzero Certified!
What does this mean?
This means that BookNet Canada is working towards carbon neutrality with the help of Carbonzero by purchasing carbon offsets.
Regular parts of our work, like keeping our servers running and hosting our Tech Forum conference, all add to our business’ carbon footprint. To become carbon neutral, we’re balancing these carbon emissions through investments in projects that permanently reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As an organization, we’ve chosen to support Carbonzero’s Ontario Biodiversity Afforestation Project.
Why does this matter?
It's unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land (A.1).
This statement comes from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s recent report, AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. In it, they break down the current state of the climate, possible climate futures, risk assessment and regional adaptations, and ways to limit future climate change.
These are some of the key messages from the report:
The scale of recent changes across the climate system as a whole and the present state of many aspects of the climate system are unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years. (A.2)
Many changes due to past and future greenhouse gas emissions are irreversible for centuries to millennia, especially changes in the ocean, ice sheets, and global sea level. (B.5)
With further global warming, every region is projected to increasingly experience concurrent and multiple changes in climatic impact-drivers. (C.2)
From a physical science perspective, limiting human-induced global warming to a specific level requires limiting cumulative CO2 emissions, reaching at least net zero CO2 emissions, along with strong reductions in other greenhouse gas emissions. (D.1)
In short, human impact on the environment is causing global climate systems to change at unprecedented rates. To manage these changes, we all have to reduce our carbon (CO2) emissions to zero — and soon. If we don’t, we’re going to continue experiencing increased and dangerous changes in climate systems worldwide, some of which are already becoming irreversible.
What about the book industry?
The book industry is no stranger to climate change.
According to Canopy’s 2020 report Survival: A Plan for Saving Forests and Climate, 413 million tonnes of paper pulp are produced globally each year, with nearly half (184 million tonnes) coming from virgin wood fibre. And about half of that (92 million tonnes) comes from ancient and endangered forests, like Canada’s own old-growth boreal forests.
Like Canopy, writes in their report, “A forest is much more than the sum of its trees.” Forests and their soils are massive and effective carbon sinks. This is especially true for original forests — primary, old-growth, or ancient forests. It’s estimated that original forests are 40 times more effective at sequestering carbon emissions per hectare than younger, plantation forests. Forests offer other ecological benefits, too — providing homes to thousands of species, regulating the climate, and generating rainfalls. Yet with so much paper pulp made from virgin wood fibre each year, they estimate that less than 20% of the world’s original forests remain large enough to sustain this full range of ecosystem services.
An effective and widespread use of recycled wood pulp is essential to protecting original forests and reducing carbon emissions.
Unfortunately, switching to recycled paper isn’t as straightforward as it seems. According to the Environmental Paper Network’s report The State of the Global Paper Industry, there are many obstacles in getting used paper to mills for recycling, including paper contamination and mismanaged recycling systems. As a result, it’s estimated that printing paper has a global average of only 8% recycled content and at that, not all paper made from recycled wood pulp is created equal. Paper milling itself also contributes to the book industry’s carbon footprint. Depending on the methods and energy sources used in the milling process, milling paper from recycled wood pulp could produce even more carbon emissions than paper made from virgin wood pulp.
Just how much of the book industry’s environmental impact is related to paper? Take the Hachette Book Group as an example. In 2020, all of the paper they used came from Forest Stewardship Certified and Sustainable Forestry Initiative fibres, with 9.2% of that being recycled wood fibre. Even with these efforts, 95% of Hachette Book Group’s overall carbon footprint last year came from the paper used in their books.
But books aren’t just paper.
Printing also has an impact on the environment by way of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions — the solvents found in inks, cleaning products, and fountain solutions used in the printing process. To put this into perspective is another example from Penguin Books UK, who is committed to using sustainable paper and printing methods (PDF download) for their publications. When they examined their 2019 environmental impact (PDF download), they found that 41% of their carbon footprint came from paper and 33% from printing.
Switching to digital books isn’t necessarily the answer, either.
If you consider the resources involved in creating and sustaining an ereader and ebook library, a casual reader actually creates less of a carbon footprint by reading print books. It’s estimated that the environmental impact of an ereader device (tablets included) is the equivalent of anywhere from 22 to 322 paper books depending on the page count, and that it would take 15 years to offset the carbon footprint of an ereader. That being said, for a serious reader, digital books do make a big difference.
And it’s not just publishing books that creates carbon emissions. Getting books to readers also has big environmental impacts.
In Canada, greenhouse gas emissions from transportation have increased 27% from 2000 to 2018, with freight emissions increasing year over year. In 2019, the transport sector was the second largest source of greenhouse emissions in Canada, totalling 54% of all national emissions. And with shipping comes packaging, which all too often is meant for single use.
Not to mention all the other ways we accumulate our carbon footprints at our at-home and in-person workspaces — utilities, paper, business travel, and more.
What is the industry doing?
Things are going badly, but it isn’t all doom and gloom.
In our survey, The State of Publishing in Canada 2019, we asked Canadian publishers about the ways they lowered the environmental impact of their work. The responses were a promising beginning — 74% used video conferencing instead of travelling, 62% sourced paper for sales and supporting materials from a certified forest management system, 53% used print-on-demand technologies, and another 53% sourced paper for books and manuscripts from a certified forest management system.
Our latest survey of Canadian booksellers, The State of Independent Bookselling in Canada 2020, reveals how booksellers are managing their day-to-day environmental impact. We learned that Canadian booksellers use a mix of digital and paper catalogues to discover books — 89% use digital catalogues and 47% use paper catalogues.
Canadian bookstores also use a mix of print and digital marketing strategies to drive business to their stores, with digital marketing strategies outperforming print ones in terms of efficiency. And, during 2020, Canadian booksellers estimated that 39% of customers' orders were delivered through curbside or store-front pickup, instead of being shipped.
Book consumers are also starting to take notice. Now, more than ever, consumers worldwide care about sustainability regardless of the type of product they’re purchasing. As we found in our recent study, On Diversity: A Survey of Canadian Readers 2021, 18% of readers bought from places that explicitly share their values. With climate-focused book genres like solarpunk and eco-fiction on the rise, there’s no doubt that a concern for environmental sustainability may be among them.
Change is happening across the industry and it’s something that we can all take part in by stepping back, taking stock, and moving — more thoughtfully — forward. As more and more members of our industry go green, source sustainable paper, become Certified B Corporations, commit to environmental sustainability, and take a stance on climate change, we could soon be on a path to a brighter, greener future.
Sales and library circulation data of Cooking titles during the first quarter of 2024.