11 March 2010 | Nick Martindale


Guardian Media Group has pledged to work with suppliers to minimise its supply chain’s environmental damage and source more sustainable products over the next five years.

The multimedia operation, whose titles include the Guardian and the Observer, said it would conduct reviews with suppliers and identify more sustainable practices by 2012.

All relevant suppliers will have to sign up to an ethical paper procurement strategy in the next two years. They will also receive a copy of the company’s sustainability vision statement later this year.

The move is part of a wider project across the group, which aims to put in place ethical and sustainable practices. Other pledges include making employees more aware of their impact on the environment at home and at work, providing incentives for advertisers leading on sustainability and helping local communities and businesses improve their own green efforts.

Known as the “Power of 10”, the campaign hopes to have a multiplier effect by influencing its audience and other businesses to take similar steps.

“We will enable our audiences, customers, employees, advertisers and suppliers to build a more sustainable future,” the company’s vision statement read.

“Sustainability has many interlinked strands but the dangers of climate change are so great that we will pay particular attention to highlighting its hazards and exploring ways of combating it.”