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In 2021, Pվ��Ƶ committed to a target of reaching “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions across our operations and value chain by 2040. We that year, in the run-up to COP26 in Glasgow. It was a moment of real momentum. Governments were under pressure to strengthen their plans to keep the goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C within reach, and businesses were being asked to show how they would play their part. 

For a publisher of some of the world's most important climate research, it felt right to follow the science in our own operations. Our customers, partners and colleagues were also asking us how we would act in the face of increasing impacts of climate change.  

Net zero by 2040 was ambitious, and at that point there were many unknowns. So, like many organisations, we built out the first stages of our transition plan, which we call our net zero roadmap, and set out targets that were subsequently validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). These include near-term targets for 2032 alongside our long-term 2040 goal. Near-term targets matter: they encourage ongoing progress and emissions reductions, rather than waiting for future policy or technology solutions.  

What are our near-term targets? 

From a 2019 baseline, we aim to reduce absolute emissions from the energy used in our buildings and vehicle fleet (Scope 1 and 2) by 54.6%, and emissions from our value chain (Scope 3) by 32.5%, by 2032. By 2040, the target is a 90% reduction across all scopes, with only residual, unavoidable emissions neutralised (or offset).  

We are now around halfway between our baseline year and 2032, and five years on from setting our overall 2040 goal. It feels like a good moment to take stock. What is going well, what remains uncertain, what have we learned, and where can we go further? 

Where we are 

Our latest reported data – published in our – shows that total emissions within our target boundary fell from around 200,000 tonnes of CO2e in 2019 to around 96,000 tonnes in 2025, a reduction of roughly 52%. Scope 1 and 2 emissions are down by around 64%, and Scope 3 emissions by around half. This means that, as things stand, we are ahead of the pathway to our 2032 targets. 

Some of our biggest early gains came from structural shifts: the long-term move from print to digital, and new ways of working after the pandemic which led to us travelling less and needing somewhat less office space. These are real reductions, but they are not easily repeated. The next phase will be harder, as we aim to reduce absolute emissions in a world where our business continues to grow and deliver more for our research, education and health customers. 

What is going well 

Strong support across the business.

Net zero is not something a sustainability team can deliver alone. We have an Environment Committee that brings together senior leaders from areas including facilities, procurement, production, logistics and technology, to review progress and action. Our carbon targets are also reflected in company KPIs and leadership remuneration, a clear signal that this is part of how we run the business rather than an add-on. 

Colleagues who care.

Our employee-led Green Impact Network includes hundreds of colleagues across more than 25 locations. Members share ideas, run local campaigns and offer sense checks on how company-wide policies roll out in practice.  

Decisions that make business and environmental sense.

Some of our most meaningful progress has come from choices that are good for efficiency too. We have reduced our office space by around 35% since 2019, choosing newer and more efficient buildings and using our Green Building Checklist to aim towards best practice at our sites. In 2025, over 100 of our sites bought green electricity directly. Our fleet includes a growing share of electric vehicles, and we continue to move IT services to the cloud.  

We’ve also made choices about the logistics of producing and shipping physical product (books and journals). By printing and distributing closer to readers through more local and regional hubs, to cut the distance our products travel, we’ve reduced the associated emissions too.  

What remains uncertain 

Measuring the value chain

Around 98% of our carbon footprint sits in our value chain (Scope 3).  Measuring this relies on a mix of supplier data, activity data and spend-based estimates, each of which brings its own assumptions. 

A great benefit of undertaking this sort of work at Pվ��Ƶ is our direct access to leading edge research related to all aspects of sustainability. Research related to corporate sustainability action is less common, so I really sit up and notice when relevant research is published in our journals. Just recently, a Perspective in Nature Sustainability, 'From corporate net-zero pledges to credible climate action' (Gudipudi et al., 2026), resonated strongly with me, for its insights into the uncertainties within corporate GHG emission reporting.   

The authors found that 62.5% of year-on-year changes in companies' reported Scope 3 emissions could not be explained by observable business factors, compared with just 5.2% for Scope 1 and 2. In other words, companies are not failing to act, but today's reporting often makes it hard to tell how much real-world decarbonisation has taken place. 

That rings true for us. In recent years we have worked hard to improve our carbon data year-on-year, moving towards activity-level reporting where we can, and assessing appropriate data sources and carbon factors. As is common in GHG reporting, we have restated figures as our data improved, for example replacing estimates with more accurate logistics data and rebaselined for comparability. These are the right things to do, but they show how much the numbers can move for reasons other than climate action. 

What AI means for our targets.

The question I am asked most often at the moment is what growing use of AI, by us, our suppliers and our customers, means for our targets. Our current view is that emissions associated with AI are not currently a significant drive of our overall emissions footprint. However, available data remains limited and methodologies continue to evolve. We are working with technology colleagues and supplier data where available and including this within our estimations of value chain carbon emissions.  We expect our suppliers to manage and report their environmental impacts and many of our largest suppliers have set their own net zero targets, which is reassuring in terms of direction of travel. We believe responsible use of AI and net zero can be compatible, provided we measure impacts, choose suppliers with credible plans and use AI proportionately. 

Dependence on the wider transition.

Our later progress will rely increasingly on others: suppliers decarbonising their own operations, cleaner electricity grids in the countries where we operate, and supportive policy by governments in the countries where we and our suppliers operate. Renewable energy certificates may also become more expensive and harder to source. We can influence these factors, but we do not control them. 

What we have learned, and where we can go further 

• Explain the numbers, don’t just report them. The Perspective, referenced above, recommends separating emissions changes driven by climate action from those caused by business growth, methodology updates and organisational change. We are investing in our data infrastructure to give us more regular, reliable data, and considering how to show what is driving changes in our footprint more clearly in our future reporting. 

• Better data from our suppliers. Primary data from our largest suppliers, in areas such as paper, printing, logistics and technology services, gives a truer picture than generic estimates. We will continue to expand our engagement with them. 

• Pathways for our sector. Generic targets only go so far. Through our industry associations, we want to help better understand what a credible decarbonisation pathway looks like for publishing, and within the research and education ecosystems we work closely with. 

• Considering carbon in everyday decisions. From buildings to business travel, the decisions that shape our footprint are made across the company. We continue to engage widely and make the link between business decisions and environmental sustainability clearer.  

Looking ahead 

The road to net zero was never going to be a straight line. Reaching the halfway point of our near-term targets ahead of where we need to be is encouraging, but it is also a reminder that the hardest work lies ahead. As a research publisher, we believe in evidence. That means continuing to act and being open about what our data can and cannot yet tell us. 

Further reading

• Gudipudi, R. et al. From corporate net-zero pledges to credible climate action. Nature Sustainability (2026).   

• Pվ��Ƶ Selected Sustainability KPIs 2025 (Annual Report supplement):