Our Strategy: A climate neutral future

Against a backdrop of international concern on matters relating to climate, Pearson announced in early 2007 its commitment to become climate neutral for its then businesses, with a view to completing that globally by the end of 2009. We have achieved that goal and each year, we review, renew and refresh our climate neutral commitment. Our broad strategy remains the same and is based on three key areas:

  1. Measure. We have an established, independently-verified process to measure our climate footprint relating to our buildings and from business travel. We also continue to work on assessing our total carbon footprint.
  2. Reduce. We cut the CO2 we release from our buildings and business travel. We have introduced energy-efficient design across our buildings, further invested in alternatives to business travel such as video conferencing, as well as looked at renewable energy where we can. We detail our initiatives and plans throughout this environmental review but overall, this campaign helped us to report a reduced absolute climate footprint by 5% in 2011.
  3. Offset. In 2012, whatever emissions we have not been able to reduce or avoid during 2011 will be offset by supporting a range of projects that either save or absorb a tonne of carbon for each tonne that we emit. We have established partnerships to do this.

Our main focus is on reducing our Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The challenge to maintain climate neutrality is a rallying call for every Pearson operating business and every Pearson employee to become climate aware. We involve all parts of Pearson in achieving our commitment:

  • Facilities departments work on introducing energy efficiency design and upgrades together with looking at renewable energy options across our main buildings.
  • Internal communications teams have helped keep fresh Planet Pearson, our dedicated environmental collaboration space. It is available globally, bringing together information, ideas, competitions and signposts to local green groups as well as encouraging colleagues to work together.
  • Our marketing marketing teams have continued to develop innovative partnerships to raise awareness of environmental issues, invest in offset partnerships and boost our reputation.
  • Editorial colleagues commission books, magazine and newspaper articles on a wide range of environmental issues.
  • Our purchasing teams have worked with industry partners and with suppliers on assessing and measuring our total carbon footprint.
  • Finance colleagues offer budgetary funds in the US and the UK as our two main centres of employment to stimulate new ideas and innovation.

     

We extended the scope of our climate neutral commitment to cover all existing businesses as at the end of 2010. This brings in new acquisitions such as the school learning systems division of Sistema Educacional Brasileiro (SEB), one of Brazil's leading education companies within the scope of the commitment.