Don’t abandon printed newspapers on environmental grounds, a new report says.

Produced by WAN-Ifra’s Shaping the Future of News Publishing project, ‘Carbon Footprint of News Publishing’ shows that – from an environmental point of view – there is no reason to reject the printed newspaper in favour of an electronic version.

The report brings together research from a variety of European studies tackling issues such as how much greenhouse gas results from a daily newspaper, and whether greenhouse gases are reduced by reading news on a computer screen or mobile device.

Depending on the reading habits and length of reading time, the printed newspaper in many cases beats online and mobile platforms, in terms of CO2 production, the report says.

“The argument has great relevance today, when print is under attack as a ‘deadwood’, tree-killing industry,” says WAN-Ifra’s deputy chief executive and director of communications and public affairs, Larry Kilman.

“A French retail food chain cited environmental reasons for its decision to stop using printed advertising. A Danish non-governmental organisation produced a list of measures that every citizen could take to protect the environment. One of these was: ‘Cancel your newspaper subscription’.”



The report shows European forests are growing, not shrinking, and have increased by 30 per cent since 1950.

“This means that, every year, European forests grow by an area corresponding to 1.5 million football pitches, or four times the size of London,” the report says.

Released during the World Publishing Expo in Frankfurt, the report also shows that the amount of energy required to produce newsprint is less than for all other types of paper used in publishing, and that the base material for a large share of newsprint is recycled waste paper.

It has been edited by Malin Picha on behalf of WAN-Ifra, and summarises the methodology and findings and six research studies by Finnish and Swedish research organisations, institutes and industry bodies and includes conclusions based on the findings, and recommendations for further reading and reference.



The subjects of the studies include “Environmental impacts of print products – from cradle to grave”, “Environmental impact of print versus digital”, “An overview of existing sustainability reports – the results,” “The environmental impact of editorial work”, “Environmental impact from editorial work at magazines”, and “Additional measures to take: reducing environmental impact by teleconferencing”.



The report (in English) is available as a PDF download, free to members. Details at http://www.wan-ifra.org/carbon_footprint