Embedding Sustainability Into Everyday Business: A Recap of GBA at ConTEXT London 2025

On March 10, 2025, the Green Book Alliance (GBA) had the opportunity to present at ConTEXT London, an essential industry gathering that brought together key stakeholders from across the book supply chain. ConTEXT continues to foster critical discussions around environmental and economic issues in publishing, from shifting consumer habits to evolving regulations and supply chain disruptions.

The GBA-facilitated session, Beyond the Baseline: Moving Ahead with Carbon Calculation, featured insights from Brian O’Leary (BISG), Karina Urquhart (BIC), and Lauren Stewart (BookNet Canada). Our discussion focused on the increasing necessity for publishers to move beyond compliance-driven sustainability efforts and toward proactive carbon accounting and reduction strategies. With regulatory pressures such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) consuming much of publishers’ attention, our session underscored the importance of embedding sustainability into everyday business operations, ensuring that the industry is not just reacting to legislation but actively driving long-term environmental responsibility.

Key Takeaways from ConTEXT

1. The Need for Carbon Calculation Tools – There is a growing consensus that publishers must be equipped with standardized tools to measure their carbon footprints, both for operations and individual book products. GBA is actively working on making available tools that will help publishers track their carbon emissions, supporting industry-wide transparency and accountability.

2. Shifting from Compliance to Strategy – While compliance with regulations like EUDR is essential, publishers must also recognize the broader need for integrating sustainability in publishing operations. Our discussion highlighted how sustainability fluency should become as ingrained in publishing workflows as financial and production planning.

3. Industry Appetite for Sustainability Leadership – Feedback from ConTEXT attendees reinforced that the industry values structured sustainability initiatives and looks to organizations like GBA for leadership. A particular highlight was BookNet Canada’s efforts to measure its own carbon footprint since 2020, demonstrating a model from which other organizations are eager to learn.

4. Collaboration is Key – Events like ConTEXT provide invaluable spaces for industry stakeholders to share experiences and develop collective solutions. GBA remains committed to supplementing these in-person gatherings with webinars, meetings, and workshops to ensure sustainability remains at the forefront of industry discussions.

   
   

Moving Forward with Sustainability

We are grateful for the opportunity to engage with industry leaders and appreciate HP and Ashley Gordon’s efforts in fostering meaningful dialogue through this event.

We encourage industry stakeholders to reach out to us with their sustainability innovations and challenges—collaboration and industry buy-in are vital for lasting change. Together, we can ensure that sustainability becomes an intrinsic part of publishing’s future.

For those who missed our session at ConTEXT, we invite you to join us at the upcoming GBA event at Frankfurt 2025, where we will further explore these topics and share updates on our ongoing projects. More details can be found here.