The Environmental Action Group was formed by The Publishers Association and The Booksellers Association to encourage and help the book industry to reduce its carbon emissions, operate more sustainably and reduce the impact of book publishing and bookselling on the environment.

There are many ways in which the industry can do this – from using paper from sustainable sources and reducing plastic bag usage, to examining the supply chain. Contrary to the general perception, books currently use less than 1% of the world’s timber and, moreover, an increasing percentage in the UK are now printed on paper from sustainable sources.

Another misconception is that e-books are more environmentally friendly than paper books. In fact, independent studies have ascertained that there is very little difference between the two because of the emissions generated to run servers and in the manufacture of electronic readers.
When a printed book is on the shelf, it represents carbon that has been ‘captured’ and free of emissions for ever. A printed book on paper from a tree that is immediately replanted is a good green product.

As an industry, we're already doing quite a lot on environmental and corporate social responsibility issues, but we need to do more. The Climate Change Act has legally committed the UK to cutting its carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050 based on 1990 levels. The EAG calls upon every publisher and bookseller to reduce their carbon emissions by at least 10% during the period covering January 2006 to December 2015.