Sustainability
Our Books On Climate Change
Our Priorities
Design
Materials
Partners
We are founding signatories of Publishing Declares, an industry-wide pledge to inspire collective action that results in sustained positive change.
We are founding participants in The Book Chain Project, a collaborative project building better supply chains for books since 2006.
We use 100% Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™) certified paper in our books. FSC is the best in class certification of sustainable paper sourcing.
We are members of the ICTI Ethical Toy Program (IETP), ensuring we have the tools and resources to manage ethical risks at the factories in our supply chain and are able to act quickly in cases of noncompliance.
We work with One Tree Planted to plant a tree for every DK staff member, and more for those reaching career milestones (i.e. 5 trees for those marking 5 years at DK, 10 years for those marking 10 years etc).
We are members of Products of Change, a global organisation supporting the brand and licensing industry on its transition to a regenerative future. It guides a growing community of brand owners, manufacturers, retailers and supporting businesses towards building more sustainable business practices, through education, knowledge sharing and events.
Our policies
Responsible Paper Purchasing Policy
Fibre Testing Policy
Supplier Compliance Policy
DK EU Regulation on Deforestation
Our collective responsibility
At DK, we recognise that everyone has a part to play to ensure we achieve our sustainability objectives. Our Sustainability Committee is a dedicated team of champions from across our global business that engage, support and promote sustainable activities. We provide training to all staff and keep everyone up to date with a bi-monthly internal newsletter called The Greenprint.
Our progress
We have been Climate Neutral in our own operations since 2020. This means that, alongside projects to reduce our energy usage, such as LED lighting and the use of renewable electricity, we offset residual emissions generated during the course of our business operations for scopes 1 and 2. We also offset staff related emissions (such as business travel and staff commuting).
What is offsetting?
Offsetting means investing in ‘carbon credits’.
These credits support projects that have a positive impact on the planet.
Working with our parent company Bertelsmann, and in partnership with Climate Partner, we support an afforestation project in the Campo Grande region of Brazil. The project is run according to the strict requirements of the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and has been verified by an independent third party: RINA Services SpA. Find out more about this project here.
We are on track to meet our goal of climate neutrality by 2030. Focused specifically on reducing emissions associated with the printing and manufacturing of our books.
Our London headquartered office at One Embassy Gardens operates an environmental management system certified to ISO 14001:2015. The scope of the management system includes our sustainable sourcing and supply chain management, book design, warehousing and distribution, and the operations of our London office. We are looking to expand the certification to include all global sites over the coming years.
We publish our Modern Slavery Statement annually. It sets out the steps taken by DK to prevent modern slavery in our business operations and is an important part of the work we do to maintain a sustainable supply chain.
Our content
We have a proud history of publishing books that promote a sustainable future, with works from climate justice activist Mikeala Loach to sustainable lifestyle influencer Georgina Wilson-Powell.