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Why Sustainable Conference Marketing Makes Sense for Societies

Why Sustainable Conference Marketing Makes Sense for Societies

Natasha White, Vice President, Journal Publishing Marketing, Research, Wiley

December 13, 2022

Global citizenship is important to Wiley. We strive to conduct our business in a responsible and sustainable manner to reduce our impact on the environment. Being a responsible global citizen is equally important to me. To do my part, I opt to drive an electric car and reduce my travel to international work meetings and conferences whenever possible. All of us doing our part and working together to reverse climate change helps make our world more sustainable for future generations. And I think it is critical that our leadership set an ambitious goal for Wiley to be carbon net zero by 2040

To achieve this goal, we’re taking aggressive action to reduce our carbon footprint. We are signatories to the UN Global Compact, Publishing Declares, and the SDG Publishers Compact— initiatives that have a positive impact on the environment. For the past few years, we’ve been working with our society partners to:

  •        reduce print production and consumption
  •        encourage digital consumption of our products
  •        Increase understanding of a journal’s carbon footprint through our calculators

Sustainable conference marketing 

One important step in our planet-friendly journey that I can fully embrace, and advocate is sustainable conference marketing. Each year, we attend hundreds of conferences to promote journals for our society partners. Having a physical presence at these events contributes to both our carbon footprints, and we ask society leaders to join us in selecting journal promotions that have less impact on our environment.   

We found that attending a single US-based conference generates about 19.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), with air travel included.* Printing and shipping journals and promotional materials to conferences adds to the environmental impact. A Fast Company article makes the case for reducing or eliminating use of branded promotional material—a $64 billion dollar industry whose product production contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

*Includes ground/air transportation, accommodation, creation of conference collateral and shipping conference materials

Sustainable conference statistics

How do we make conference marketing more sustainable? Your marketer can create digital flyers with targeted messaging, plan and promote Editor-run author sessions, or provide PowerPoint slides to display between sessions. Instead of adding your journal logo to pens or tote bags, we’re testing out making charitable donations or branded experiences like webinars. These activities are effective at promoting your journals while also helping to drive down our collective carbon footprint. 

Wiley is partnering with a charity to plant trees. In place of exhibiting at a conference on our existing exhibition schedule, Wiley will plant 2,000 trees on your behalf. We will work with our partners to provide digital material for the conference and/or find alternative opportunities to having a physical booth. 

We plant through Trees for the Future which provides agroforestry training and resources to farming communities. By embracing sustainable land practices, farmers are reclaiming their agency, breaking the cycles of climate change and generational poverty, and rebuilding our food systems from the ground up.

Environmental impact in action

In partnering with you to implement more sustainable publishing practices, I’m happy to share that we have reduced journal print volume by 1.5 million copies since 2020. But we’re not stopping there. Through Trees for the Future, we are planting a tree for every journal copy not printed. To date, over 500,000 trees have been planted as a result—a real win for local communities. 

Many of you have set climate targets for your society, but not all of you have the resources to advance these environmental initiatives. This is where we can help. By working together, supporting both our sustainability programmes, we can enhance your society and journal brands, attract new members, energize staff, and provide opportunities for greater political influence. Data from our recent Society Member Survey show that students, early-career researchers, and those in developing countries are particularly interested in working with organizations that are socially and environmentally responsible, offering an opportunity to boost society membership.

When we work together, we can find effective solutions to the climate crisis and other challenges that come our way.