What impact does the Guardian have on the natural world?
What impact does the Guardian have on the natural world? The Guardian
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Nature’s Decline and the Guardian’s Biodiversity Footprint
The Importance of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight the urgent need to protect nature and biodiversity. Nature provides essential resources for human survival, such as air, food, and water. However, our extraction of these resources is leading to the destruction of wildlife habitats, putting the delicate balance of species at risk. This not only worsens the climate crisis but also threatens our food supply and livelihoods. The World Economic Forum reports that half of global GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature.
Measuring the Guardian’s Biodiversity Footprint
The United Nations has called on large businesses to disclose their impacts and dependencies on nature by 2030. In response, the Guardian has collaborated with researchers from the University of Oxford to measure its biodiversity footprint. This comprehensive analysis examines various aspects of the Guardian’s operations, from newspaper production to employee travel.
- Production of the Guardian and Observer newspapers
- Digital products (website and apps)
- Office operations (heating, lighting, water usage)
- IT hardware
- Business travel
- Catering
The researchers assessed five key biodiversity impacts: greenhouse gas emissions, water use, water pollution, air pollution, and land use. These factors contribute significantly to nature loss and species decline. To understand the effect on biodiversity, the researchers estimated the number of species that would likely be lost due to these environmental pressures.
Findings of the Guardian’s Biodiversity Footprint
The analysis revealed that the main driver of biodiversity decline for the Guardian is the production of newspapers, accounting for 68% of its impacts. This is primarily due to greenhouse gas emissions associated with paper production. Other significant factors include water usage and water pollution from the pulping process. Transportation and printing materials also contribute to land and air pollution.
The website and app usage accounted for 10% of the Guardian’s impacts, mainly through energy consumption for data transmission. Office operations, IT hardware, business travel, and catering each contributed to a smaller percentage of the biodiversity footprint.
Comparing the Guardian’s impact with other organizations, it was found that the Guardian’s biodiversity footprint was 10% of the size of Oxford University’s. This is attributed to the nature of the Guardian’s activities, which involve energy-intensive processes like paper production and printing.
Challenges and Future Steps
Measuring biodiversity impacts is still a developing field, and there are data deficiencies that need to be addressed. Some suppliers do not have complete data on water use, land use, and air pollution. Additionally, research on specific environmental impacts, such as ink used in newspaper printing, is limited. Supply chains also pose challenges in tracing the source of materials.
The Guardian’s Commitment to Sustainability
The Guardian recognizes the importance of reducing its impacts on nature and is incorporating biodiversity considerations into its emissions-reduction plan. Efforts are being made to gather better data on water and land use associated with paper supply and printing materials. However, setting a hard target for reducing impacts on nature is currently not feasible due to evolving measurements and data deficiencies.
The Guardian is not considering credits or offsets at this stage, as previous reporting has shown limited measurable impact from carbon credit schemes. The focus is on quantifying impacts, improving outcomes, and taking steps towards sustainability.
By expanding the understanding of environmental impacts to include biodiversity, the Guardian aims to set a precedent for other organizations embarking on this path. Transparency and accountability are key in addressing the urgent need to protect nature and achieve the SDGs.
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