1 Informa PLC | Sustainability Policy informa.com
Sustainability Policy
Global
Policy
2 Informa PLC | Sustainability Policy informa.com
At
Informa, we have an ambition to become a
champion of sustainability within our business and
across the specialist markets we serve.
As part of our
FasterForward programme, we have
commit
ted to a series of specific goals and
activities
over a five year period, designed to help
us become an ever more sustainable, high impact
business and to support and accelerate change in
our markets.
Achieving
these commitments is a shared task and
responsibility
. This policy sets out what we expect
of colleagues, as well as the standards and
practices we seek to collaborate with
business
partners, customers and other stakeholders
on.
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The Importance of Sustainability
Being a responsible and sustainable business is essential to Informa’s long-term success, to the success of
our partners and a driver of the benefits and value we can deliver to customers and our other stakeholders.
But there are many other reasons why sustainability is important to us too.
As a global business, it is essential we comply with all applicable national and local legislation and
regulations. This includes meeting and exceeding minimum standards and responsibilities in areas such as
the avoidance of environmental damage and control of pollution, and in equality of opportunity and
support for human rights and underrepresented communities.
Equally our stakeholders - including investors, customers and colleagues - increasingly expect us to have
and to demonstrate our commitments and performance on sustainable business, and these stakeholder
expectations are increasing.
It is important that we meet the public commitments that the Informa Group Board has made in
FasterForward and we also believe there are real business and customer opportunities from putting
sustainability at the heart of Informa and what we do. These could be through taking advantage of new
business opportunities, engaging with new communities, pursuing innovation, mitigating risk, improving
our positioning or building in greater resilience.
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Our FasterForward commitments
Our aim is to continuously improve the impact we have on the natural environment, the way we work with
our colleagues, customers and all other partners, and the contribution that our business and content make
to our markets, society and the economy.
The FasterForward
programme commits us to nine priority activities in the most material areas of
sustainability that, between 2020 and 2025, will ensure we move FasterForward to become an ever more
sustainable, positive impact business. They were developed following engagement with a range of
stakeholder groups and we will report regularly on progress towards these targets.
Faster to zero
Moving faster to become a zero
waste and net zero carbon
business
1. Become carbon neutral as a business and across
our products by 2025
2. Halve the waste generated through our products
and events by 2025
3. Become zero waste and net zero carbon by 2030
or earlier
Sustainability Inside
Embedding sustainability inside
every one of our brands to help
our customers accelerate
sustainable development in their
specialist markets
4. Embed sustainability inside 100% of our brands
by 2025
5. Help and promote the achievement of the UN’s
Sustainable Development Goals through our
brands
Impact multiplier
Multiplying the positive impact we
can create when we improve
access to knowledge, help people
connect more efficiently and
invest in our communities
6. Enable one million disconnected people to access
networks and knowledge by 2025
7. Contribute $5bn per year in value for our host
cities by 2025
8. Contribute value of at least 1% of profit before
tax to community groups by 2025
9. Save customers more carbon than we emit by
2025.
Scope of this Policy
This policy applies to all of Informa’s activities, our supply chain and our products. We expect all colleagues
and business partners to support our sustainability policy and commitments, and to take active steps to
help Informa to meet its targets.
Sustainability is a broad area, and while this policy covers many aspects of sustainable and responsible
business, Informa also has other detailed and standalone Codes and Policies for particularly significant
matters, including Paper & Timber Use, Anti-Bribery & Corruption, and Diversity & Inclusion. These are
listed in the appendix and should be read and followed in conjunction with this policy.
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What this means for Colleagues
Every colleague has a role to play in helping Informa be a more sustainable and responsible business. We
expect all our colleagues to act with regard to the environment and society, choosing outcomes that
improve our positive impacts across the economy, society and the environment and following these basic
principles:
• At all times, colleagues should comply with local and international laws and regulations, including
those respecting human rights, protecting the environment and relating to ethical conduct.
• All colleagues are expected to behave in a responsible and sustainable way, in line with our
Guiding
Principles and our Codes of Conduct.
• Colleagues engaged in decision making or planning should ensure that the right balance is sought
between economic, social and environmental impacts of decisions are considered, avoiding harm
and seeking mutually beneficial outcomes for our stakeholders.
• Colleagues should seek to involve or consider the views of any stakeholders who are materially
impacted by their decisions and seek to make the right choices for long term value creation for our
stakeholder groups.
Certain colleagues, functions and teams have more specific responsibilities or opportunities to support the
sustainability programme, including those engaged in or responsible for the following. Where applicable,
these additional expectations are outlined in this policy.
• Events management
• Print and publishing
• Buying goods and services
• Estates and facilities management
• Booking or taking travel
• HR including recruitment and the use of contingent workers, contractors and sub-contractors
• Volunteering and engagement with charities
• Digital products
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Sustainability in our Offices and Facilities
Our offices and other buildings are where the majority of colleagues spend most of their time, and they are
among our most tangible places of environmental and social impact.
We recognise that our office estate is global and diverse, with buildings of many different styles and
different ownership models. Making these offices more sustainable can take time and requires collaboration
with landlords, and some aspects will need to be tailored to the location, but there is much we can do on a
daily basis.
For all colleagues:
• All colleagues have a responsibility to help us save
energy and reduce waste, as well as having the
opportunity to participate proactively in local
sustainability initiatives.
• As a minimum, when in the office, we expect
colleagues to work to reduce their environmental
impacts including making use of recycling facilities
in the office and turning off electrical devices
when not in use.
For those involved in operating our offices, including
facilities and estates managers, and office senior leaders:
• We are committed to powering all offices with renewable electricity where available, and offsetting
all residual carbon emissions from non-renewable electricity, heating and refrigeration. Office
managers in offices larger than 50 people must report their usage to ensure this happens.
• All offices should offer recycling facilities and preferably at least three waste streams, with clear
signage and engagement to encourage colleagues to recycle. No desks should have individual
prints or individual bins, with centralised systems used instead to increase efficiency and encourage
a more active office.
• By 2025, all offices should aim to recycle at least 90% of their waste by weight.
• All paper and timber products, including printer paper, notebooks should be sustainably certified, in
compliance with our Paper and Timber Policy
.
• All offices should seek to eliminate single use service ware, single use plastic bottles and sachets or
containers. Where this is not practical, offices should seek to provide compostable or recyclable
options.
• All offices must be run in a safe and inclusive manner and in a way that supports colleagues’
physical and mental wellbeing. This includes, as a minimum, providing ergonomic desk equipment
and assessments and upholding office standards that provide the right working temperature, fresh
air, natural light, space to take a break and suitable noise levels.
For those involved in procuring and fitting out offices
• When considering new offices, at least one option being considered should be a LEED Gold or LEED
Platinum rated building at least, with whole life costing factored in. BREEAM, SKA or similar ratings
may also be considered.
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• Office design should follow Informa’s standards for office fit out and design, which include design
principles and consideration for wellbeing, natural light, fresh air, noise levels and ergonomics.
• Following Informa’s energy management guidelines, energy efficiency opportunities should be
examined, including lighting, smart metering, improved heating and cooling systems, building
management systems and water efficiency.
• Proximity to public transport and cycling/changing facilities should be a key consideration when
choosing new offices.
• When selecting products for office fit outs, their sustainability credentials should be considered,
including products with high recycled content (or even reused and repurposed) and low negative
health impacts (avoiding volatile organic compounds for example).
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Buying Goods and Services Sustainably
How Informa purchases goods and services creates a greater potential environmental and social
opportunity and impact than the impact of our business travel, commuting and offices combined.
We are committed, under the externally certified
Science Based Targets initiative, to reduce our
carbon footprint from activities such as
procurement by at least 20% by 2030.
Sustainability opportunities and impacts vary
depending on the product and category being
procured, but some general principles and
expectations apply around promoting and
ensuring responsible, sustainable behaviour in
our supply chain and reducing our carbon
footprint where we can.
• Colleagues involved in the purchasing of any kind of product or service, however significant, should
consider the sustainable and responsible aspects of their purchase and seek to choose more
sustainable options where possible. The total cost of ownership, which is both the direct and
indirect cost of purchasing the product over the product’s lifetime should be considered where
appropriate.
• If due diligence is required for any product or service, colleagues should ensure they consider
whether the supplier has acted in a responsible way by complying with environmental laws and
respecting human rights. Informa’s procurement teams can provide guidance on how to do this.
• All suppliers should be made aware of and comply with our
Business Partner Code of Conduct, which
sets an expectation that suppliers comply with relevant local, national and international laws.
• We should only purchase products that have been produced safely and with regards to workers’
wellbeing and human rights, which include the avoidance of modern slavery and child labour, and
consideration for diversity and inclusion.
• We should work with suppliers to minimise waste from the product’s production, shipping, use and
disposal. This includes considering product longevity and disposal options.
• We should seek to support local businesses where possible as part of our contribution to local
economic impact.
• Colleagues must consider all relevant ethical expectations in our dealings with our supply chain,
including a zero-tolerance policy to bribery, corruption and discrimination.
• We should seek to encourage our larger suppliers to develop their own sustainability programme
including setting carbon reduction targets and working towards a move towards 100% renewable
electricity.
• We should encourage our suppliers, particularly key or tier one suppliers, to work with us to
improve the sustainability of our products and their businesses by putting their own sustainable
procurement policy in place to cover their own supply chains.
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Sustainable Travel by Colleagues and Customers
Travel for business, including flights, hotel stays and mileage
from taxis and trains, represents a significant part of Informa’s
environmental and social impacts. When customers travel to our
events, that also has an effect on the impacts our products have.
Informa is a Carbon Neutral certified business and we offset
unavoidable emissions from our own business travel using
certified carbon offsets verified by a third party.
When colleagues travel, they should follow their Divisional Travel Policy, making use of more sustainable
travel options including public transport where practical and safe to do so. We expect them to:
• Prioritise personal safety, and that of others, when travelling.
• Only travel when necessary for business and make use of digital communication tools instead
where practical.
• Always choose to travel responsibly by balancing cost, wellbeing, safety and environmental impacts.
This includes whether to choose to fly, and what class to fly.
• Choose trains and public transport wherever practical, particularly when moving within cities.
• When engaging in travel, consult and follow our Anti-bribery and Corruption
policy and our wider
Code of Conduct, particularly when in countries where corruption is more prevalent.
To help manage the environmental impacts of travel by attendees and exhibitors to our events, we seek to:
• Locate events where travel, for the majority of attendees, is efficient and short.
• Provide attendees with information on how to travel to the event venue and host city in a
sustainable way.
• Provide attendees the choice to offset their unavoidable carbon emissions, such as those from
travel, by using certified carbon offsets as part of our commitment to work towards carbon neutral
events.
• Save our attendees more flights than they take to reach our event, by ensuring that multiple
objectives can be accomplished onsite, thereby reducing the overall number of flights our
attendees need to take in a year.
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Responsible HR and recruitment
Informa is at its best and most successful when colleagues can be themselves at work, develop their skills
and make a contribution, no matter who they are, what their background is, where they are located and in
what team they work.
As a people business, it’s important to foster a way of working that helps all colleagues, and all of our
partners, to experience a safe, supportive and inclusive environment in which they can use their skills and
expertise to make a difference at work, within their markets and within the community.
Informa believes strongly in the value of diversity and the importance of all colleagues around the world
being able to equally contribute, be heard, and hopefully be inspired. All colleagues, but particularly our
managers, have a responsibility and should be supported to foster an inclusive and open environment. The
importance of this agenda, and our collective commitment to it, is explained in more detail in our
Diversity
and Inclusion Policy.
More details on the expectations of colleague (including contractor) behaviours and experience are given in
our Code of Conduct
.
In summary:
• In this area, all colleagues have a role to play in ensuring Informa provides equality of opportunity
in recruitment, developing and promoting colleagues and providing opportunities to colleagues
and candidates. Unlawful and unfair discrimination has no place in recruitment (whether for
permanent or temporary positions and contractors). We also don’t support recruitment that
imposes financial burdens on candidates or workers, nor creates any form of bonded labour.
• All colleagues have a right to come home from work healthy and safe, both physically and mentally.
• All colleagues should be treated equally and fairly, based on each person’s skills, abilities and
performance, without regard to a characteristic such as, but not limited to, gender, gender identity
or expression, race/ethnicity and physical appearance.
• Any form of discrimination, harassment, bullying, intimidation or exploitation is unacceptable.
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Volunteering, donating and supporting charitable causes and
community groups
Supporting charitable causes and community groups can bring many direct benefits to our communities as
well as indirect benefits to colleagues and our business.
We encourage all colleagues to explore how they can support causes they care about with their skills and
resources, and establish strategic, long term and mutually beneficial partnerships with community
organisations.
These activities can however introduce new obligations and risks, which must be carefully managed.
Informa’s Community Programme Policy outlines which organisations we can support and provides other
important information for colleagues, with a summary below.
• Community partners, donation recipients and volunteer hosts must be registered charities
• We cannot support any organisation that discriminates against any group or person, or acts in any
way that is inconsistent with Informa’s Diversity and Inclusion Policy
.
• We cannot support any organisation where the organisation’s values and ethos conflict with
Informa’s Guiding Principles or Code of Conduct
.
• We do not support political causes or single issue lobbying with volunteering or other resources
such as donations or free promotional space.
• Volunteering and donations cannot be for religious outreach, but we do allow Colleagues to work
with organisations who are founded on religious principles providing they are non-discriminatory
and are not working to attract converts to the religion.
• Ideally, volunteering should be spent working with a charity or on community work, ideally working
with beneficiaries directly. Whilst we respect colleagues’ rights to attend a demonstrations, protests
and rallies in their own time, this activity is not eligible for paid volunteering days.
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Sustainability & Our Products
We’re proud to produce data, analysis and content and connection-based services that aim for the highest
levels of quality, accuracy and integrity and can be trusted and valued by customers.
We also know that our products and services can influence our markets, and that they have the potential to
create a range of different environmental and social impacts.
As part of FasterForward, we are committed to including relevant sustainability content in each of our
products: content that helps our markets and customers understand and address the challenges and
opportunities presented by their own long-term responsible and sustainable business activities. This is also
in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Informa’s wide range of products and services include large-scale in-person physical events, online events
and marketing services platforms, digital content, printed publishing and more.
Depending on the nature of the product or service, there are different impacts that colleagues and partners
must be aware of.
These are summarised below, and additional relevant policies to be aware of include our Editorial Code
and
our Responsible Advertising Policy.
Running sustainable events
As an organiser of more than 1,000 exhibitions and events each
year, we take the environmental, social and economic impact of
our events seriously.
Our approach focuses on three areas:
• Inspiring Sustainable Development
• Running and Environmentally Responsible Event
• Running a Socially Responsible Event
It is relevant for all events teams, and essential for any event that seeks to be certified to the ISO20121
sustainable events management standard. Other principles that all teams and colleagues engaged in events
management must follow are:
• Colleagues should actively engage with Informa’s Sustainable Event Management System (ISEMS).
This includes the 12 point Fundamentals Checklist that is a first step to implementing sustainability
at an event, and which all exhibitions and larger conferences should be working towards meeting.
• Third parties and business partners engaged with us to deliver our events should be made aware of
their responsibilities under these policies, as well as our Business Partner Code of Conduct,
and any
additional local or event-specific guidance or requirements.
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Sustainable printed products
Our customers buy more than 10,000 tonnes books, journals, magazines and other publications every year.
We are committed to working with suppliers on sustainable publishing, and many countries and customers
also expect us to ensure the paper we use is legally and sustainably sourced
Our aim is to halve the waste from the production of these materials by 2025 and work towards creating
carbon neutral publications. This includes asking suppliers to source renewable energy and pursue more
efficient shipping practices, and by working with suppliers to phase out all plastic wrappings for our
publications by 2023.
100% of our publications should be printed on responsibly sourced paper. See our Paper and Timber Policy
for more information.
Sustainable digital products
We create and operate a range of digital products, from digital content brands to digital, virtual and hybrid
events.
Informa is committed to measuring this digital carbon footprint and reducing it by 2025, by working with
our suppliers, encouraging a move towards renewable energy and prioritising efficient delivery.
Corporate development and business additions
Informa is committed to ensuring that we consider appropriate sustainability factors when buying or selling
businesses (mergers and acquisitions). This includes, but is not limited to:
• Compliance with environmental, social and governance laws
• Safety and environmental records
• Reputational risks from operating in certain geographies or markets
• Whether sustainability issues present an opportunity or a risk within the specific markets
All colleagues working on transactions are required to consider relevant factors as part of the due diligence
process.
Compliance with this policy
We expect all colleagues to engage with and support Informa’s sustainability programme, and not to act in
such a way as to undermine deliberately the achievement of our publicly reported targets.
Colleagues who actively undermine or counteract the sustainability programme, or whose actions cause
Informa to breach any of our legal or regulatory responsibilities, may be subject to disciplinary action, up to
and including dismissal, or may find themselves criminally liable.
Further information and assistance
For questions, advice and guidance contact Informa’s Sustainability Team: sustainability@informa.com.
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Speak up
Informa is committed to ensuring that Colleagues can speak up with confidence if they have any concerns
or need to ask for help.
If any of us observes or suspects something improper, unethical or inappropriate, we all have an obligation
to speak up. In the first instance, you should raise your concerns with:
• Your line manager
• HR
• Group Compliance.
If you would feel more comfortable talking to someone else, you can report your concerns in confidence
through our whistle blower line, Speak Up, which is operated by an external third party provider, Navex.
You can make a report in your own language either via their website, or telephone line:
• www.informaspeakup.ethicspoint.com
• International number: +44 (0)808-234-7287
For local telephone numbers for other countries, please visit the Speak Up website.
Informa will not tolerate retaliation in any form against anyone for raising concerns or reporting what they
genuinely believe to be improper, unethical or inappropriate behaviour.
All reports will be treated confidentially.
Policy Governance
Policy Owner:
Group Sustainability
Applicable:
This policy is applicable to all of Informa globally
Classification:
External Policy
Last updated:
July 2020
Additional information:
sustainability@informa.com
www.informa.com/sustainability
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Appendix 1: Other relevant policies
Sustainability is a broad area, and while this Sustainability Policy covers many aspects of sustainable and
responsible business, Informa also has other detailed and standalone codes and policies, including the
following documents, many of which are available on informa.com.
• Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy
• Business Partner Code of Conduct
• Colleague Code of Conduct
• Community Partnerships Policy (Volunteering and Donations – internal use only)
• Diversity and Inclusion Policy
• Divisional Travel Policies (internal use only)
• Editorial Code
• Gifts and Entertainment Policy (internal use only)
• Modern Slavery Statement
• Paper and Timber Sourcing Policy
• Privacy Policy
• Responsible Advertising Policy
• Our Tax Approach