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Sustainability Manager

Posted 02 September 2022
Salary Salary up to £35,000 dependent on experience, with an annual performance bonus up to 10%
LocationLondon
Job type Permanent
Discipline Sustainability
ReferenceLBLI-1SEP
Contact NameLouis Blaser

Job description

Sustainability Manager

About the Publishers Association

The Publishers Association is the member organisation for UK publishing, representing companies of all sizes and specialisms. Our members produce digital and print books, research journals and educational resources across genres and subjects. We exist to champion publishing to the wider world and to provide our members with everything they need to thrive.

Our members are at the heart of our mission. We bring them together; provide them with the information they need; seek solutions to problems; and campaign to achieve them. We have been instrumental in founding and supporting key industry initiatives including World Book Day and the Booker Prize.

Our membership includes Penguin Random House, Pearson, Faber & Faber, Elsevier, HarperCollins, Hachette UK, Pan Macmillan, Wiley, Bloomsbury, Simon & Schuster, Oxford University Press, and many more publishing companies of all sizes and specialisms.

Our commitment to sustainability

We and our members are committed to achieving long-term sustainability. In February 2019, we established the PA Sustainability Taskforce, currently with 70 members. In June 2021, we started work on the Carbon Calculator and Materials Index, to help members meet their reporting requirements, benchmark industry data, and drive future change. We believe this is a leading initiative across the creative industries. In November 2021, the Publishing Declares mini site was launched, with 96 sign-ups to date. In July 2022, a new sector-wide Sustainability Industry Forum (SIF) was announced, including four working groups, two of which are led by PA. In September 2022, the Calculator and Index beta version will be launched to all members.

The opportunity to make publishing the leading creative industry on sustainability

This new position is an exciting opportunity to play a lead role in driving change across the publishing sector. You will lead some existing activities and have the opportunity to shape and develop new ones.

Activities to be led by the Sustainability Manager include:

  1. Playing a lead role in developing a detailed sustainability strategy.

  2. Regularly consult a wide range of members to help inform future priorities e.g. commission a project to look at the carbon footprint of digital product, or the end-of-book lifecycle.

  3. Explore a range of future services to members, as well as other activities.

  4. Being the go-to person for PA members and staff on sustainability.

  5. Updating and developing the new Carbon Calculator and Materials Index, with PA members and commissioned software developers and input consultants.

  6. Evolve future iterations of the Carbon Calculator and Materials Index, including appropriate targets, and the possibility of offering a white-label service to others.

  7. Overseeing the development of the first annual sustainability report (c. Autumn 2023) based on a year’s data from the Carbon calculator, using our input consultants to create a template that can be repeated in future years.

  8. Represent PA in relevant fora, and support others in doing so.

  9. Explore linking what we do to the Sustainable Development Goals.

  10. Support sustainability-related communications and policy work.

  11. Run PA’s Sustainability Taskforce meetings.

  12. Be on top of relevant changes in the sustainability landscape including latest thinking (e.g within publishing, academia, government etc) and disseminate to PA and members in plain English.

  13. Have a working knowledge of corporate sustainability reporting rules requiring companies to publish regular reports on the social and environmental impacts of their activities

This role will report into the head of research, who’s an experienced line manager and has led PA’s sustainability work in recent months.

Benefits include:

  • Salary up to £35,000 dependent on experience, with an annual performance bonusup to 10%

  • Competitive pension scheme, and life assurance

  • 27 days annual leave

    plus your birthday and the days between Christmas and new year

  • Private health and dental care, and enhanced maternity pay

  • Flexible hours including WFH, with at least two days in the office including Wednesdays currently

  • Interest free season ticket loan, and the cycle to work scheme

  • Learning and development opportunities, mentoring, and professional membership fees

  • Free fruit, snacks, tea, coffee and milks