IPA SDG Dashboard Initiative - IPA SDG Dashboard

Reduced inequalities

The Sustainable Development Goals Programme SDG10 Hub: Reduced Inequalities

Springer Nature’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Programme aims to connect the researchers who are tackling the world’s toughest challenges with the practitioners in policy and business who desperately need those insights to achieve their goals in improving the world, by making our publishing activities more visible. To better achieve SDG 10, Springer Nature has here collected a selection of our published content from across disciplines, format and imprint related to reducing inequalities.

Affordable and clean energy

Climate Change Knowledge Cooperative

In a cross industry collaboration this new platform is a new initiative to help broaden the discovery and understanding of climate change research — and accelerate its application towards a sustainable future. Research articles have been summarized into layperson articles and available free for everyone to explore the research stories or try searching for topics such as rising sea level, carbon offset, environmental campaigning or pollution.

Climate action

PRISME (book packages bundling platform)

The French Book Chain uses a single logistics platform called Prisme where all the packages of books to be delivered to bookstores out of Paris, Belgium and in Luxembourg are gathered and sorted out. This allows bundling the flows of books to bookstores as well as returns, as therefore lowering shipping fees and contributing to a cleaner environment. It is currently used by 350 publishers/ distributors and 2500 booskellers.

Climate action

Online “The Green Book Imprint” Sustainability Conference

During this special online conference, the topic “Together for sustainability in the book and media industry” was examined from different perspectives in order to discuss existing and new approaches. The program with keynotes, panel discussions and practical sessions were curated together with the editors of Börsenblatt, MVB’s trade magazine, and aimed at everyone who wants to help the book and media industry become more sustainable.

Quality education

BookStart Baby Bag Program

The Bookstart Baby programme, run by the UK’s largest children’s reading charity BookTrust, will provide book packs to families with babies born in 2021 to support their early learning and development and encourage a positive home learning environment. Bookstart Baby packs aim to promote a love of reading in children from as young an age as possible, and every child aged 0-12 months is eligible for a free pack of books and resources.

Quality education

Indonesian SDG Book Club

On World Book day 2020, The United Nations in Indonesia launched its SDG Book Club, aiming to get Indonesian children to learn about sustainable development and to empower them through stories. The Book Club presents reading tips and a reading list with suggested reading in Indonesian for different age groups covering all of the SDGs.

Peace, justice and strong institutions

Workshop and Seminar on National Book and Reading Policies for Africa

A workshop on National Book and Reading Policies for Africa was held in Nairobi, June 2019. Both the workshop and follow-up seminar validated the African Union Continental Framework on Book and Reading Policy, intended to support quality education for national development in 42 anglophone and francophone African countries. Furthermore, the collaboration is seen as instrumental to the attainment of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, in particular SDG 4: Quality Education.

Partnerships for the goals

Technical Seminar on National Book and Reading Policies (NBRP)

This jointly organised technical seminar on National Book and Reading Policies (NBRP) in Africa was intended to support quality education through sustained and improved literacy for the benefit of African people and national development. The seminar took place in December 2019 in Kigali, Rwanda. The six participating anglophone countries were Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda. Participants were guided through the process of developing national book and reading policies.

Partnerships for the goals

Springer Nature’s Sustainable Development Goals Programme

The Springer Nature China New Development Awards were announced in 2019. This award recognises the contribution of Chinese research to international sustainable development, which is significant as China has one of the world’s fastest growing volume of scientific and scholarly research globally. 10 Chinese authors received the award in recognition for their research into areas such as climate change, economic development, eco-development and green intelligent transportation systems.

Peace, justice and strong institutions

Parliamentary Book Club

The Parliamentary Book Club is an initiative whereby Australians get to nominate a book they think their leaders must read. Launched in 2019, it invites all parliamentarians to read the selected book, and then participate in a meeting at Parliament House to join the author in a discussion of the book’s main themes. The intention is that the books will lay the foundation for discussion around aspects of Australian life, which could inform and inspire new ways of thinking.

Peace, justice and strong institutions

Freedom to Publish Committee and the Prix Voltaire

In a democracy, the rights of authors and publishers to create and distribute their works in complete freedom is critical. The IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee challenges violations and drives dialogue around issues related to the freedom to publish. The IPA also awards the prestigious Prix Voltaire to recognise exemplary courage in upholding the freedom to publish. Nominees have usually published controversial works amid pressure, threats, intimidation and harassment.

Life on land

Reducing the Use of Plastic in Packaging

Publishers mainly use plastic for shrink wrapping to protect books, magazines and journals during distribution and selling. However, some publishers have taken measures to reduce the use of plastic in their packaging. Springer Nature have in 2019 stopped wrapping all but the largest research books (where damage is more likely if unwrapped), reducing the number of units wrapped by 1.2 million and replaced two million plastic wallets, used for CDs, with paper alternatives.

Climate action

Responsible Sourcing of Printed Material: Guidelines for The Green Book Trade

In 2016, the Norwegian Publishers Association began to work on the topic “The green book trade.” Their goal has been to make it easier for publishers to choose their suppliers based on an internationally recognised set of criteria and guidelines. They developped a guide to the sustainable procurement of paper, an introduction on to procurement policies, a list of tools and measures to prevent the use of controversially sourced paper, and a system for rating individual books and paper quality.

Life below water

#oursea Moomin Campaign

The Baltic Sea is one of the most polluted seas in the world. To mark the 75th anniversary of the Moomins, the Moomin Characters Ltd launched the #oursea campaign. This campaign was arranged in cooperation with the John Nurminen Foundation, an organisation working to save the Baltic sea and its heritage. The goal was to raise one million euros to support the foundation’s work to save the Baltic Sea from Eutrophication.

Life below water

Authors4Oceans

Author Lauren St. John also launched the website Authors4Oceans, containing tips to how to reduce plastic waste. The authors and illustrators who are part of the initiative are passionate about the natural world and preserving it for future generations. They are committed to ridding their lives and communities of plastic and unsustainable practices wherever possible, and inspiring young (and old) readers to do the same.

Life below water

The book Plastic. Past, Present and Future

The book Plastic. Past, Present and Future, written by Eun-Ju Kim, illustrated by Ji-won Lee, was originally published by Woongijn Thinkbig. The English translation was published in June 2019 by Scribe UK. This book takes the reader on a journey through the life cycle of plastic, from production to waste. It explains how plastic survives, and why it is harmful to our environment.

Climate action

Book Chain Project

The Book Chain Project, since 2016 has aimed to build better supply chains for books and help publishers make informed buying decisions. The Component Chemical Screening program, for instance, enables print suppliers to submit exact chemical breakdowns of each book component that can then be screened and flagged to publishers in order to substitute any components of concern.

Climate action

Climate Neutral Publisher Logo (klimaneutralerverlag.de)

The Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, including publishing houses Droemer Knaur, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Rowohlt, S. Fisher and Argon, announced in the beginning of March 2020 that they are labelling their new books with a new green logo on climate neutrality, referring to the klimaneutralerverlag.de (climatneutralpubliser), and committing to climate neutral production and transparency in climate communication.

Climate action

The GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard

Different organizations and publishers have adopted the GHG protocol standard as a way of allowing them to understand, calculate, and track their carbon footprint. This standard has three phases in which organisations can commit to tracking and reporting on carbon emissions. Hachette Livre, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Otava Publishing Company and Bertelsmann have set targets for reducing their carbon emissions and switching their operations to rely on green energy.

Responsible consumption and production

Frankfurt Book Fair 2020 – Special Edition

In 2020, due to the travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s largest book fair took place in a hybrid format. Though the book fair’s traditional on-site exhibition was cancelled, an extensive digital programme for publishing professionals was available, as well as exciting online events for international readers. Thus people could still experience the international exchange the book fair normally provides, even with the challenges posed by the pandemic.