Publishing Scotland, the trade and development body for Scotland’s book publishing sector, has launched a multi‑year Sustainability Roadmap funded by Creative Scotland. The initiative aims to address environmental challenges specific to publishing that generic programmes often overlook.
The publicly‑available suite includes the Roadmap itself, Step‑by‑Step Carbon Footprint Guidelines, a Carbon Dashboard Excel template for data collection, a free ‘Steps to Sustainability’ training course introduced in September, and a monthly Carbon Catch‑up support session.
The current phase will culminate on 27 October with an Environmental Sustainability Forum in Edinburgh, also streamed online, where publishers can explore the resources and share best practices.
Collaborators on the project include Climate Springboard, publishing consultant Jonathan Griffin, and Culture for Climate Scotland, while Publishing Scotland also sponsors the Green Book Alliance Book Carbon Calculator and has worked with international partners such as BISG, BookNet Canada and BIC.
‘Working collaboratively has been key to creating publisher‑specific support on sustainability that – thanks to our Creative Scotland funding – we can now offer to all,’ said project lead Abigail McDougall, Head of Policy and Communications at Publishing Scotland.
CEO Sheila Pinder added, ‘The three foundational pillars of our mission are professionalisation, internationalisation and sustainable business practices, and this suite of resources meets all three.’
Publishing Scotland invites expressions of interest for further collaboration and encourages organisations to join the forum in person or remotely.