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GBA Receives BISG’s 2026 Industry Innovator Award

Writer: Administrator @ GBA
Administrator @ GBA
Sep 17
2 min read

On September 16, 2026, the Green Book Alliance was awarded BISG’s 2026 Industry Innovator Award, recognizing the development and launch of the GBA's Book Carbon Calculator.


Available free of charge, the calculator allows publishers, printers, and other industry partners to estimate the carbon footprint of an individual book and explore how production choices can affect emissions. It can also help organizations establish baselines, track progress over time, and incorporate sustainability considerations into planning and reporting.

 

The award was presented during BISG@50: Book Publishing Next Forum & Anniversary Celebration, which took place at The New York Historical in New York City.

 

GBA steering committee members Karina Urquhart (Book Industry Communication) and Lauren Stewart (BookNet Canada) were unable to accept the award in-person, but were delighted to pre-record an acceptance speech which can be viewed within this blog. Alternatively, you can read the full transcript below.



We would like to express gratitude to key contributors to the development of the Book Carbon Calculator:


The GBA would like to formally and sincerely thank the early leaders of this project: author Guy Dauncey, EJ Hurst and New Society Publishers, and Jen Knoch and ECW Press. Your vision, leadership, and unwavering commitment to sustainability laid the foundation for the innovation we are celebrating with this award. By developing practical tools and advancing the industry's understanding of carbon measurement, you have empowered publishers to make more informed decisions and take meaningful steps toward a more sustainable future.

 

Thank you to the GBA's sponsors of the Book Carbon Calculator, without whom this project would not have got off the ground: Gibbs Smith, Friesens, and Publishing Scotland. Your belief in this project enabled us to bring a free and accessible tool to publishers around the world and reflects a genuine commitment to advancing sustainability across our industry. Special thanks to Brad Farmer from Gibbs Smith for presenting and accepting the award on behalf of the GBA. 

 

Thank you to Jarin Pintana, Product Manager of the Book Carbon Calculator, who has worked tirelessly with industry stakeholders, technical partners, and beta users to turn this vision into reality.

 

Thank you to founding members of the GBA: Karina Urquhart, Noah Genner, and Brian O'Leary. Together, their leadership and friendship transformed an important conversation into an enduring initiative, and their dedication continues to guide our work and our ambitions for the future.


Thanks also to Lauren Stewart (BookNet Canada) and Allison Belan (BISG), who joined the GBA as steering committee members and saw the Book Carbon Calculator project through to its launch.

 

And finally, thank you to the Book Industry Study Group for honouring the Green Book Alliance with your 2026 Innovator Award. We accept this recognition with immense gratitude, not as the culmination of this work, but as encouragement to continue pushing forward. We’d also like to pass along our congratulations to BISG on 50 years of service to our industry.

 

What we hope you will take away from the story of the Green Book Alliance and the Book Carbon Calculator is that meaningful industry change rarely begins with a single organization, a single conversation, or a single idea. It begins when people recognize a shared challenge and commit themselves to building practical solutions together.




This project would not have been possible without the support of our sponsors:

 



 
 

How to Ask Your Suppliers for Paper Emissions Data

Writer: Administrator @ GBA
Administrator @ GBA
Aug 16
1 min read

Updated: Aug 18

Paper is often the largest contributor to a book's carbon footprint, which makes having accurate paper emissions data one of the most valuable ways to improve your calculations.


The GBA Book Carbon Calculator lets you enter supplier-specific paper emission factors to create a more accurate estimate of your book's greenhouse gas emissions. 


You can use the template below to ask your suppliers for the information you need.


Hi [Supplier Name],


[Organization name] is using the GBA Book Carbon Calculator to better understand and track the carbon footprint of our book production, and we’re collecting some information about the paper stocks we use.


Could you please provide the following information for the paper stocks we purchase from you?


  1. Paper stock name – the full name or product name of the paper

  2. Emission factor – the carbon emissions associated with the production of the paper, expressed in kg CO₂e/kg or tonnes CO₂e/tonne

  3. Mill location – the city and country where the paper was manufactured


If you have any additional information that would be helpful to provide context for any of the values (such as if a mill is integrated or non-integrated) that would be appreciated as well.


Thank you for your help. This information will help us improve the accuracy of our carbon footprint calculations and reporting.


Best, [Name] [Organization]





 
 

The GBA Book Carbon Calculator Launch

Writer: Administrator @ GBA
Administrator @ GBA
Jul 27
1 min read

Updated: Aug 17


On June 17, 2026, the GBA celebrated the launch of the Book Carbon Footprint Calculator.

 

The Green Book Alliance Carbon Calculator Project builds on more than two decades of sustainability work within the publishing industry.

 

The project's roots trace back to 2005, when New Society Publishers developed one of the earliest carbon footprint calculators designed for Canadian book publishing. Recognizing the need for updated tools and broader industry access, New Society Publishers and ECW Press collaborated to modernize and expand this work into a new generation of carbon accounting tools for publishers.

​

At Frankfurt 2025, GBA held a workshop on sustainability data collection, and what came out of that discussion and consultation with industry stakeholders was, “start with carbon footprints.” Organizations were asking for consistent, transparent reporting methods aligned with established frameworks like the GHG Protocol, and accessible for organizations of all sizes.

 

The GBA has adapted the existing Canadian Excel-based carbon calculator, created by New Society Publishers and ECW Press, into a free, user-friendly web tool accessible across international markets. This tool allows publishers, printers, and supply-chain partners to calculate the carbon footprint of a book before production decisions are made, enabling more climate-conscious choices in real time, or after a print run is finished to record carbon impacts for reporting purposes, carbon offsets, etc.

 




This project would not have been possible without the support of our sponsors:

 



 
 
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