Penguin Random House UK is phasing out carbon intensive paper brands across all its UK publishing as part of its ongoing efforts to place sustainability at the heart of the business.

By next year, the company has stated, this could save over 1,000 tonnes of carbon – the equivalent to 15% of its carbon footprint in 2022.

To achieve this, Penguin will be working directly with printers and paper mills as well as supporting its suppliers to create carbon reduction plans.

“We’re really pleased to have introduced this cap on high carbon paper, which will tackle the largest single source of our company emissions. It’s a key step towards our goal of becoming net zero by 2030,” said Courtney Ward-Hunting, senior sustainability production manager.

“With the engagement of our teams and the support of our global network of suppliers, we can produce increasingly lower carbon books meeting the challenge of the climate and biodiversity emergency,” added Dan Edwards, publishing operations director at Penguin Random House UK.

Penguin Random House UK is a founding member of Publishing Declares, a collective commitment to industry-wide collaboration on climate action.