Hello, and welcome to the Physics World weekly
podcast.
I'm Hamish Johnston, and my guest this week
is Liz Martin.
She is sustainability
lead at IOP Publishing,
and we're going to chat about how the
company has reduced its carbon emissions by 36%
when compared to a 2020 baseline.
IOP Publishing is a wholly owned subsidiary
of the Institute of Physics,
which is the professional body and learned society
for physics in The UK and Ireland.
IOP Publishing produces over 100
scholarly journals,
around half of which are published jointly with
or on behalf of partner societies
and research organizations.
Physics world is also brought to you by
IOP publishing.
Here's my
conversation
with
Liz.
Hi, Liz. Welcome to the podcast.
Hi, Hamish. It's nice to be here. I
always like an opportunity to talk about things
all things sustainable.
Great.
So, can we start off by,
can you give us a little summary of
IOP Publishing's
commitment
to sustainability?
What what what is our commitment as a
company?
As a company, we're committed to operating our
business in as an environmentally friendly,
sustainable way as possible.
So that covers the day to day running
of the business, our offices, our our people,
but also the the business that we do,
so publishing scientific research in all its forms.
So we do this by focusing on on
measuring our our carbon emissions and then reducing
the that that carbon,
working with our supply chains to reach,
on their emissions,
those that are not directly within our control,
and also supporting our colleagues in understanding what
they can do as individuals,
both inside and outside of work.
But unlike other businesses, as a publisher,
we have an added responsibility
of of the research that we publish. So
we're also committed to to making the best
research in all areas of environmental sustainability
accessible to all,
accessible to all of those people that that
need to drive the solutions of the future.
Okay. And I think we we've done a
pretty good job, haven't we?
IOPP
has reduced its carbon footprint by 36%
when compared to 2020,
which to me seems amazing.
How how did we do this? How how
is this achieved?
Well, firstly, absolutely
is amazing and, I certainly, you know, not
not taking the credit.
Lots and lots of people across the the
company involved there.
The the first step for us though was
was measuring our our corporate carbon footprint, which
it sounds super easy,
but it it can be pretty challenging to
get started. For me at least, it was
a bit of a roller coaster.
I come from a I have a physics
background, so,
consider myself fairly fairly sort of well versed
in in sort of,
methodologies
and and and calculations of this type. But
it was a a bit of a roller
coaster, feeling like you had it all under
control and then realizing quite how complex it
could be in places.
But we we we got there. We needed
to do that, we needed to set some
really clear boundaries on on what we were
trying to measure,
to make some decisions on how we were
going to to to measure it and then
how we were going to calculate the emissions.
You need a lot of data, a a
huge amount of operational data.
Again, that sounds simple, and and data is
is really simple to track in real time,
but it's it's really difficult to to gather
retrospectively.
But we got there. We got there. And
once we had collected that that or calculated
rather that first footprint,
it was immediately clear that we had some
some hotspots.
But identifying those hotspots is is really just
the start of it.
You know, once you know what they are,
some some hot spots can be relatively easy
to address. But more often, the areas where
you can,
make the biggest impact in terms of, carbon
reduction
are are not the straightforward areas to address.
I see. And, Liz, there I mean, you
you didn't do this on your own, I
don't think. You
you you had you worked the the company
worked with partners,
and and worked within a a a sort
of a standard framework. Is that right?
Absolutely right. This would be simply impossible for
for any one person to do. So we
have a sustainability task force,
and that we have executive sponsor there, and
I chair that. And that is people from
around the business of all levels,
who have an interest or have a particular
area of responsibility,
that is that is pertinent. And they really
drive
all of our sustainability
activities across the company.
But the, but
separate to that, we have a couple of
working groups.
We have a supply chain working group who
engage with with all of the suppliers that
we use, and we have a carbon footprint
working group. So within the carbon footprint working
group, that is people around the business who
are who have responsibility
for the activities
where we need to collect primary data for
that calculation.
So we have a a big team of
people, and we're also supported by, a consultant
called Climate Partner
who are experts.
And I have to say, without them, I
think we'd probably still be calculating that first
footprint now.
And and, Liz, we're recording this, podcast in
IOP's
new ish office in Bristol.
And
it seems to have a remarkably
low
carbon footprint.
How has that been achieved? I mean, is
it simply because it's a fairly new building,
or are there lots of other things that
were done to to ensure the low carbon
footprint?
A little bit of both. I think, you
know, we're we're incredibly fortunate,
with our new offices
precisely as you say because it's a new
build.
And it was built
with sustainability
in mind, and that makes a huge difference.
It can be much more challenging,
for businesses
who are in older buildings. And when you
try and retrofit sustainability in there, it simply
can be,
you know, an enormous cost to the business
to try and do that. So we made
the move with that in mind. We were
previously in in another building, not so very
far away, as you know.
So the move to here
delivered for us in the long term and
that we were able to move to this
very sustainable building. But it did give us
it did give us a year or two
of overlap well, not a year or two.
Sorry. It gave us a year of overlap,
where we were effectively running two offices. So
that did temporarily increase our footprint. But now
we're here. It's made a huge different
difference. And I think the the biggest single
benefit
is really the setup for for temperature control
within the bay building, the heating, the cooling.
You know, it was created with energy efficiency
in mind. We can even open the windows,
which doesn't sound like much, but makes a
a a real difference in terms of when
you then press that switch on the wall
to heat or cool down or whatever you
need to do. You open a window instead.
And that's all energy that you you don't
use. And, of course, the energy that we
we do still use, because everybody does, is
clean here as well. So that has a
has a big impact,
across our our scope one and scope two
emissions.
And,
I I I should say for the benefit
of listeners that it is a very nice
building as well. I mean, it's not like,
you know, we're we're in this sort of
horrible building, saving lots of energy. It's it's
it's a lovely building. It's a really nice
place to work in.
So, you know, to me, as as somebody
who comes in every day to the office,
it's been a real success,
I think.
So so in terms of measurement, Liz, you
you mentioned,
the the difficulties,
in terms of how to measure the carbon
footprint of a company.
That's done in terms of scopes one,
two, and three.
And I think, maybe some of our listeners
might not be familiar with those scopes. Would
it be possible for you to briefly explain
these three categories
and give an example of each that's relevant
to IOP publishing?
Of course. It's,
I don't think I realized at the beginning,
but it is an incredibly
complex area. So I will try and do
it as as simply as I'm as I'm
able.
So escape one emissions are the direct emissions
produced by our burning fuels.
So for us, that's our offices and and
it would be vehicles, but we we don't
have them. So it's it's largely around the
the burning of fuels for our offices.
Scope two are indirect emissions
generated by the electricity that we purchase and
consume.
So I think that's that that one's fairly
clear. And scope three then are indirect emissions
again, but they are produced by our activities
but are owned and controlled by a different
company.
So this,
covers everything we buy, whether that be goods
or services.
It covers distribution of our products,
business travel, employee commuting.
There's there's a really long list. There's 15
categories that that fit into scope three.
So I I won't list them all, but
but those are those are a few of
the key ones.
And and for IOP publishing, scope three is
really important because it represents 99%
of the company's emissions.
And within that 99%,
the the emissions are dominated by purchased services,
business travel,
and employee commuting. So I suppose those are
the key ones that we need to reduce.
How can the company,
reduce each of these? I mean, given the
fact that we've already gone down by 36%
over the last, five years or so.
Well, I mean, that really is the million
dollar question because that's what
any company out there that's trying to reduce
their carbon footprint is is looking at. And
and, actually,
you know, I
to deliver that 36%
that that we have achieved already, I don't
want to make it sound like those were
easy things to do. They weren't. They were
possibly slightly more straightforward. They were slightly more
obvious.
And the,
the implications of making those changes,
we were happy
to work with those implications.
But but purchase services in particular is particularly
challenging.
Well and that includes goods as well. You
know, any business who operates has to buy
some things, whether that be the,
the water that we drink or the pens
that we write with or the the the
laptops that we're using.
But it covers everything. It covers everything from,
you know, a a software system that we
use to book our meeting rooms. So there
is there is really no getting away from
the fact that as a company, you have
to purchase things.
And some of those are are are good.
So these are real physical things, and and
some of those might be software as, you
know,
buying Microsoft in order to use Word. That
comes at a price, and and that, therefore,
has some emissions associated with it. So I
think that's really the most challenging
area.
And, you know, the fact that that 99%
of our emissions come from scope three isn't
particularly unusual. I think we've done really well
in reducing our scopes one and two with
our our buildings,
down to 1%. But that that very,
that that really sort of high number on
in the scopes three is is not particularly
unusual.
So how can a company reduce each of
these? I mean, that's going to be you
know, that's different for for every business. I
mean, we've done really well so far in
in delivering that 36%,
because we looked at
or we continue to work on it. But
we we we made some big strides in
moving from
the material we publish being consumed in print
to being consumed digitally.
And, you know, I don't I don't want
to make that sound like an easy decision
to make. You know? It it it wasn't
an easy decision to make, but it was
quite an an obvious one in terms of
the impact that it could have on carbon
emissions.
So that's been a a big driver of
that reduction so far.
But we're nearly there now. You know, we've
got a little bit more to go, but
we're nearly there.
Then you start moving into really challenging areas,
you know, taking business travel as an example.
You know,
it's obvious. Right? If you travel less,
or you use use a more environment
environmentally friendly method to do it, you will
reduce. But if you travel less, then, you
know, you're seeing clients less, you're seeing customers
less, your the the the things that you
have to do to be successful as a
business
become more challenging. So it's those areas. And
and it's not right or wrong.
You know, you have to,
embed sustainability
into people's decision making about how they operate.
And I think that's that's really the key
for us us now. And the same goes
with employee commuting. You know,
if you give people the information to make
good decisions
and let them make them those decisions within
the context of what they have to achieve,
in their work, then that's the most effective
way of making it work for sort of
both sides of the argument.
I was I was a bit surprised by
how
dominant,
employee commuting was,
you know, particularly because a lot of a
lot of colleagues work at home.
And the ones who do come into,
the distillery, the office that we're in right
now,
a lot of those people walk or ride
their bikes.
So is that I mean, that commuting,
I assume
pre pandemic and pre having the ability to
work at home,
commuting would have been
off the scale in terms of our carbon
footprint, wouldn't it? So
Yeah.
I I I can I mean, I I
see what you mean because I can't see
I mean, you know, knowing how people here
get to work, I can't see how you
could really reduce that that much?
It's a really good point. Don't forget, we're
we're talking about people here based in our
HQ in Bristol, but we're also talking about
the colleagues that we have,
in China and India and The US. So
there is a little there is, you know,
a different mix
of,
opportunities for walking and cycling to work, for
example.
But the other key point is that although
the the scope three category is called employee
commuting, it does also include working from home.
So
that the the emissions associated with all of
us working from home are also being captured
in that category. Oh, I see. Yeah. So,
well, actually, that brings me on nicely to
my next question.
How do you capture,
emissions,
you know, that are associated with people working
at home? That is there a standard formula
that you can use based on,
I don't know, the average consumption of a
of a house in in The UK, for
example? Is that is that how it works?
Because, you know, you don't know. You, you
know, some people might not
not be too upset if it's chilly in
the winter and not turn the heat on.
Whereas other people might be sensitive to temperature
or have a health,
risk where they have to turn the heat
up in their house.
It must be difficult to, to sort of
get a handle on that.
How is that done?
Well, you're you're exactly right. And and the
way that is handled I mean, as as
much as we would love primary day you
know, first hand data, we would like to,
you know it would be nice to ask
every single person exactly what they're doing, exactly
what time the heat their heating's turned on
in the morning, and how many lights on
they have in the house. And then split
that down and if, you know, there's a
partner or a family member also working in
the building, how much is a proportion
to each person? But the but the reality
is that that what you do to calculate
that is use kind of averages. You know,
there are emission
factors,
which will change by
geography. So we do split it down by
various geographies, but then you will use averages
about,
you know, that understand what kind of renewable
splitters in the grid in The UK
versus
in China or India or The US. So
much of, of a carbon footprint
does, out of necessity,
end up, you know, operating in a space
of of national averages. So there's there's fixed
emission factors that are are set that we
use. But, you know, I think
it it's true to say that that a
carbon footprint, you know, we're we're working constantly
and and have improved year on year since
2020
to maximize the primary data that we use.
But the reality is that it it it's
completely impossible to have primary data for everything.
So you do use those averages. So so
just taking the the example you had there
for for working at home in The UK,
what we do do in terms of primary
data
is survey all of our colleagues. But rather
than than get sending them a survey with
a 100 questions about what time you turn
your lights on and and what temperature you
have your heating set to and who's your
energy provider, we do keep it quite simple.
So we calculate it based on on average,
how many days they're in the office, how
many days they're at home, and then we
will use, UK averages or whatever country that
we're we're talking about, use those those geographical
averages to to incorporate
that work from home into that category.
I see. And and what can you do,
you know, to to to reduce that?
You know, for example, we had the the
the walls of our house
insulated,
a few years ago. My my wife works
at home full time, and she noticed a
huge difference
immediately,
you know, both in the comfort of her
working in our house, and, you know, also
the fact that the heat didn't have to
come on
as often.
I mean, we can I mean, I mean,
I suppose the company can encourage people to,
to to, you know, to to to look
at how those sort of things could be
done? But, I mean, I suppose we you
know, because it is a private house, we
we really can't do any more than that,
can we? You're absolutely right. And Gold Star,
by the way, I think insulation is is
is probably one of the most important things
that that people could do. But you're absolutely
right. You you know,
although it forms part of our corporate carbon
footprint,
you know, clearly, we can't enforce
those those type you know, somebody might will
be choosing an energy provider for a variety
of reasons outside of what impact is it
going to have on IOP Publishing's corp,
carbon footprint.
So we don't enforce, but what we do
do is we try,
to,
support colleagues in their understanding of the issues.
So we've worked with,
a company called Geeky,
which was available to all colleagues.
And that,
what what Geeky did was enable an individual
to create their own personal carbon footprint.
And once they've done that, they they then
would get suggestions and and and challenges and
things that they could take on. None of
it was forced. It was all completely
up to the individual
to but there were there were ideas and
suggestions that they could commit to taking on.
And then there was a little bit of
a leaderboard so we could see which individual
or which team you could group together in
teams,
to because you you scored points if you
took on a challenge, for example, to,
eat only vegetarian meals for a week. That
has a a tremendous impact on on, an
an individual's carbon footprint. So if you completed
that challenge, you would earn points and you
would rise up the leaderboard.
So we we we come at this from
the perspective of supporting people's knowledge and understanding
about the things that they can do.
Absolutely not trying to to
enforce anyone to, you know, install solar panels
or or change their energy provider.
And and so, Liz, what's next? I mean,
we have discussed a few things for the
future,
but,
we've got this 36%
reduction.
Do do you have a target to lower
that even more by, I don't know, 2030
or something like that?
Yes. Absolutely.
So, again, with with our consultant climate partner,
we've been able to
map our net zero trajectory.
So over the so 36%
is a, you know, obviously, absolutely fantastic start
and means that we're tracking
really nicely
beneath that trajectory that we need to achieve
to to meet,
you know, a target of being net net
zero in the future.
But and there's there is always a but,
isn't there? The big but is we absolutely,
you know, won't be able to achieve
36%
every,
you know, every five years. That that was
you know, as with all these things at
the beginning,
you know, when you start out, there's there's
some some
bigger fish there that you can you can,
catch and and address.
So there there will be diminishing, I think,
reductions going forward. But we remain absolutely
committed.
So we're gonna we're gonna maintain our momentum
on the digital transformation.
So reducing then and, you know, hopefully, at
some point, eliminating
completely our reliance on print,
because that's,
that that's a that's a huge win both
in both in terms of reducing the emissions
of production, of producing the that that material,
but also in the distribution.
And we're going to continue to work closely
with our suppliers.
This is possibly something that I haven't mentioned
in detail so far, but we work closely
with them
to
encourage every single supplier that we use
to,
identify opportunities of their own to reduce their
emissions.
So what happens within your supply chain is
that,
as a company,
we are responsible for a part of that
supplier's emissions that can be,
attributed
to the activities they perform on our behalf.
So that is really, really key. That's why
purchase goods and services is so key here.
We're not a huge company, so we do
not we don't have the buying power of
some to be able to say, if you
don't reach
this threshold of sustainability,
you you simply can't be in our supply
chain. So the way we approach it is
to engage with them every year with with
sustainability
assessment to encourage them, to ask them to
join us on on the journey.
So we are seeing improvements there already.
You know, a couple of real successes in
terms of,
the suppliers we work with really taking on
board what they, you know, what we initiated
with them and and making great start strides.
So we'll continue there. And as I say,
you know, also to continue to support colleagues
to develop their knowledge and and understanding
so they can make good decisions,
every day. And I think together, these these
efforts will will really help us build on
the progress we've we've already made and move
closer to our sustainability goals.
And I suppose it's a two way street,
isn't it? Because we're we're a supplier.
So I'm guessing that we have relationships with
our customers, and our customers are asking us
about our
sustainability
metrics.
So those must be useful discussions as well,
I would imagine.
Absolutely. We're we're really seeing that in the
last few years. So when we started on
our journey in 2020,
I don't think that I'd I'd come across
any anybody asking us, really.
There were that you know, there were various
questions that came out of sort of audit
process things. But, yes, we're we're seeing that
a lot more now. So where customers are
are licencing content or or or purchasing content,
they're
they are themselves constrained by their own governments
or by their own
frameworks
to ensure the sustainability.
So, yeah, it's really great to see that
it's it's it's really
spreading out there. It's becoming much more the
norm
to to be asked about these things than
than when I started out on this journey
five years ago.
Well, that's great. Thanks, Liz. Congratulations.
And,
hopefully, the, the drop in carbon emissions will
continue into the future.
Thanks for coming on the podcast.
Thanks, Hamish. It's been really great to be
here. Thank you.
That was Liz Martin, who is sustainability
lead at IOP Publishing.
Thanks, Liz, for a fascinating discussion
about sustainability
in scholarly publishing.
You can find the sustainability
report
2025
on the IOP publishing website,
and I'll put a link to it in
the notes for this episode.
I'm afraid that's all the time we have
for this week's podcast.
I'm Hamish Johnston, and our producer is Fred
Iles.
The music for this podcast is called one
three seven, and it was composed and performed
by the physicist
Philip Moriarty.
We'll be back again next week when our
guest will be the medical physicist,
inventor,
and entrepreneur,
Brian Pope.