Condé Nast is leading the green revolution, writes FIPP

Condé Nast’s Senior Policy Advisor, Alice Pilia, spoke to FIPP about leading a green revolution in publishing.

Pilia discussed the successes and progress made in our sustainability efforts so far, the importance of acting now and why she hopes Condé Nast is setting an example to others.

In May 2020, as the first peak of the Covid-19 pandemic was raging around the world, Condé Nast set out its sustainability targets for the next five years.

“A lot of media companies would have said, ’we’ll wait until this mess has gone away and then we’ll tackle sustainability. But at Condé Nast we were determined that this was something that needed to be done. The fact that we could launch a strategy in the middle of the pandemic made me proud and very optimistic about the company’s ability to deliver a long-term commitment,” Pilia, who chairs our Global Employee Sustainability Council, told FIPP in an interview.

Condé Nast’s five-year Sustainability Strategy – part of a commitment to become carbon neutral by 2030 – has seen our offices in London, Germany, Italy and Spain move to 100% renewable energy as the media group looks to make a global switch to clean energy by 2025.

We have also eliminated 82% of its single-use plastic as it completely phases out the harmful material, while, in January last year, 100% of the paper in our print magazine titles were internationally certified as ‘sustainable’.

“We have a unique role. We inspire, inform and engage people in a way that other sectors hardly do,” Pilia said in the interview.

“One of the pillars of our sustainability strategy is to become a voice for change and that is what every media company should aim to do. It’s an additional moral responsibility and about the trust and bond that we have with our stakeholders. We can’t ignore it.“

On the topic of greenwashing, and how companies may not be viewing the climate crisis as urgently as they should be, Pilia said: ” At the corporate level, for some groups, it might be hard to convince shareholders and boards that sustainability is something they need to tackle urgently. When this happens you have to make sure the energy that is being created by the workforce and readership is channelled to persuade the leadership. It requires resources, time and commitment"

This article was published by FIPP. Read it here.