In 2019, the UN Secretary General called for all areas of society to join in the mobilisation of the Decade of Action plan (2020-2030) with the aim of meeting sustainable development goals (SDGs) through global action, local action and people action. As a part of this initiative, the UN and International Publishers Association collaborated to create the SDG Publisher’s Compact for publishers, publishing associations and others to sign up to. The Compact includes ten action points designed to champion the SDGs, committed to promoting the development of sustainable practices. The Compact encourages signatories to promote and acquire content that is safeguarding and strengthening SDG themes like equality, justice and the environment. Signatories are also encouraged to share annual reports on the progress being made towards SDGs that includes sharing data and successful practices to recognising important areas that remain unaddressed.
Commitment to the Compact has been demonstrated across the scholarly publishing sector. In February of 2023, the Compact had 283 signatories across the globe. The association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) held a conference in 2022 about diversity and sustainability, including the development of a carbon-neutral publishing supply chain and the implications of business-related travelling. At their 2022 annual conference, ALPSP held two sessions dedicated to SDGs and their impact measurement so far. They have also created the University Press Redux Sustainability Award with Cambridge University Press. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development won the award in 2020 for their SDG Pathfinder, an open-access digital tool that permits quick access to content about SDGs from publications around the world.
The European Association for Science Editors (EASE) now has an Environment and Sustainability Committee. They have also published an Environmental Manifesto to help guide their members and the global community on reducing the environmental implications of their activities with the idea to ‘think global, act local’. The manifesto includes key ideas such as environmental policy, impact-factor assessments of these policies and the understanding of editors as ‘gatekeepers’ – that editors must take responsibility for ensuring that published research complies with high ethical and environmental standards. These decisions by editors will be crucial in encouraging sustainability practices in their respective fields.
The International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers have also joined the Compact. They advocate for climate action in a variety of ways, encouraging their 147 members to join in fulfilling the Compact’s initiatives. They have since introduced an SDG Roadmap that includes suggested steps for both small and large publishers to take in order to effectively work towards the SDGs. Including tools, examples and practical steps, the roadmap aims to clarify the potentially overwhelming process of integrating SDGs into daily working life. With global reach, these associations will play an integral role in encouraging publisher’s around the world to join in the sustainability mission.