GBA Receives BISG’s 2026 Industry Innovator Award
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:
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