Environment

Reed's focus is to deliver a world class service, become a world class workplace and achieve world class performance. Environmental responsibility is integral to successfully achieving each of these. 

Within our 'world class' focus, our aim is to reduce our environmental impact as much as possible and then efficiently manage the impact of the unavoidable. Our clear focus is on reduction, rather than just mitigating our impact. A good example of our holistic approach to the environment was a recent project that overhauled our entire IT network. The project proved to be a resounding success and was recently recognised, alongside our other activities, through our attainment of the City of London Corporation's Sustainable City Award for Resource Conservation. It was also commended by HRH Prince of Wales' in his 2008 May Day address.

We are proud to be a member of HRH Prince of Wales' May Day network of companies, a collaboration of over 1,600 UK businesses who have pledged to take action on climate change. We are also part of the London Development Agency's Green 500 - this focuses on working with 500 of the biggest organisations in London, who have the greatest potential to reduce carbon in the UK capital. The hope is that this will form the basis of a global standard for environmental excellence.

In 2005, we became the UK's first major recruitment company to go CarbonNeutral™. As a group, we calculated our Carbon Footprint and offset this through a variety of projects. 

This is something that we have continued to do on an annual basis, through investment in a wide portfolio of initiatives and schemes including forestry projects throughout the UK, a methane capture project in Germany and hydro power projects in India. These offset the carbon emissions either by absorbing carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere, or by reducing the production of new harmful emissions.

Offsetting is an interim answer to an immediate problem and our clear focus, and long-term goal, is on waste reduction and environmental efficiency.

We have successfully completed a number of projects, some of which are outlined in summary below:

• We replaced all bottled water coolers with plumbed coolers. This reduced the environmental impact of our water solutions by 83%. 

• We have robust co-mingled recycling at all Reed offices - our target is to recycle 85% of all our office waste.

• We changed our printers to duplex printing, saving approximately 10 million pieces of paper per annum. We also reset all shut-down and sleep functions on our printers, saving over 24 tonnes of carbon every year. 

• We launched a new range of Green Learning courses to help individuals and organisations develop greener working practices. We were the first company to offer this type of course and the feedback has been very positive.

Our focus is on reducing our business related mileage, so we have introduced robust conferencing facilities that fully integrate audio, web and desktop video conferencing. This allows Co-Members to efficiently manage meetings remotely.

We believe that a responsible environmental behaviour is not just a 'business add-on' - it is the only economic and socially sustainable answer to the threat of global warming and is at the very heart of becoming a truly sustainable world class business.