2020
Sustainability Report

FasterForward:
Our approachto sustainablebusiness
Page 4

Moving fasterto net zero carbon
and waste
Page 6

Embeddingsustainability
inside our brands
Page 14

Multiplying ourpositive impacts
Page 22Making physicaland digital events
sustainable
Page 28

Championing
Sustainability

Our colleagues’
shared culture
Page 32

IFCi

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMA

Informa exists to champion the specialist,
connecting people with knowledge to help themlearn more, know more and do more. We champion
and connect specialists all over the world throughevents, intelligence products and scholarly
publishing. We’re a FTSE 100 company withhundreds of powerful brands helping customers
in dozens of specialist markets to succeed.
What we do• High quality research• Online market platforms• Online partnering• Data delivery• Webinars• Subscriptions• Virtual events• Critical data insights• Online training• Digital content

For more information, see our Annual Report

Informa Connectdelivers major, branded,
content-driven in-person
and virtual events and digitalplatforms allowing yearround connection andknowledge sharing.
Informa Intelligence
provides relevant, highquality and critical dataand insight to customers
working in large, complex
and specialist markets
including Pharma,
Finance and Maritime.
Informa Markets creates
opportunities for customers
all over the world to connect,learn and trade. We servebusinesses in specialist
markets through specialist
digital content and data,
virtual events and largescale physical exhibitions.
Informa Tech helps
businesses in the technology
market and professionals
interested in tech to connect,learn more and do more.
We provide knowledge andconnections delivered
through training, data andresearch, consulting, andphysical and digital events.

informa.com/investors/annual-report/

Informa’s 2020 ESG Ranking

AA

2

DISCLOSURE INSIGHT ACTION

1 – lowest governance risk to 10– highest governance risk’

99%

Industry percentile

A-

Score A – Score F

Our divisions areunderpinned by:
Global Support.
This division enables
each operating divisionand comprises Informa’s
Group functions andGroup Operations.

1

The Boardview ofsustainability

Derek Mapp
ChairmanFasterForward is a reflection ofwhat our investors and society
expect from companies like
Informa but also a reflectionof the values shared byour colleagues.

In June 2021 I will step down as
Chair of Informa, bringing to an
end my direct association with theGroup, after what has been a truly
fascinating and rewarding journey.
Across my tenure, 2020 was
undoubtedly the toughest year onrecord. As the full range and impact
of COVID-19 became clear, we moved
quickly to focus on protecting andpreserving the long-term strength andvalue of the Group’s most important
assets: our brands, customer
relationships and colleagues. It’s
testament to everyone at Informa that,in the face of significant disruption
to physical events, the Group
continued to focus on deliveringvalue for customers, often creating
new products and services to achievethis. It is also rewarding to know thatsome of our intelligence and research
products directly supported scientists
and clinicians working on the global
response to the pandemic.
I have always said that our people areboth the present and the future ofInforma and it’s been tremendous tosee how colleagues have taken care of
one another during the pandemic. I wasparticularly pleased to see the launchof the Informa Colleague Support Fund,which is providing financial assistanceto colleagues whose households areexperiencing hardship due to the impactof the pandemic. Such initiatives areimportant and speak to the underlying
values of our culture – one that is rooted
in mutual trust and understanding.
Informa is a place where everyone canbe themselves and where help andsupport is always available to anyone
who is struggling.

The Group’s values are also reflectedin the launch of AllInforma Nations.
This was a colleague response,
supported by the company, to theheightened focus on racial equality
across the world during the latter
half of 2020. Speaking as someone
who didn’t go to university, I believe
passionately that everybody, whatever
their background, deserves opportunity.
It is the Group’s responsibility to create
these opportunities by identifying,training and leading diverse talent for
the future of the business.
At the very start of 2020, we launched
FasterForward, Informa’s approachand commitment to becoming a moresustainable business. As I stated lastyear, FasterForward is a reflection ofwhat our investors and society expectfrom companies like Informa but alsoa reflection of the values shared by ourcolleagues. That’s why FasterForward isa positive differentiator for our business
and why the Board is so supportive of it.
This is the last time I’ll introduce theSustainability Report but rest assured
I will continue to follow the Group
closely as a supportive shareholder.
I am confident that, on the other sideof the pandemic, we will find a world
eager to reconnect and eager to build
the sustainable economy the world
needs. I have no doubt Informa has theright values, flexibility, commitment andfocus to make a valuable contribution
to this goal.

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

10.6

Leader: AAA and AA;
Average: A, BBB, BB;
Laggard: B, CCC
0-10 = Negligible Risk, 10-20 = Low Risk,
20-30 = Medium Risk, 30-40 = High Risk,
40+ = Severe Risk

Taylor & Francis is a
specialist in scholarly
research and helping
academic and researchcommunities make new
breakthroughs. We curate
and publish high quality
peer-reviewed research,connecting specialists toknowledge that helps themlearn more and advances
progress in their field ofstudy and broader society.

CHAIRMAN’S INTERVIEWINTRODUCTION

Championing
the specialist

OUR DIVISIONS

2

CON V E R S ATION WITH THE GROUP CEO

A conversation between Stephen A. Carter,
Group Chief Executive, and Ben Wielgus,
Head of Sustainability.

BW
It’s the first time in five years we’ve
held this conversation online insteadof in person. How has Informa adapted
to the challenges of 2020?

SC
We’ve certainly found ourselves online
and communicating virtually for moreof our working lives than ever before.
And that’s just one aspect of a year
unlike any other. Almost overnight, ourteams moved to working and connectingfrom home. We took the early decision
to focus on our customers, our brands
and our colleagues in everything we
did, whilst taking steps to build financial
stability and security. We introduced aprogramme to postpone hundreds ofphysical events and continued to meetthe demand for our digital intelligence,research and connections products.
I remain convinced this was the rightapproach and that preserving our longterm strengths will serve us well on theother side of the pandemic.

BW
From what I’ve experienced, it’s been
heart-warming to see the understanding
and support around the business ingeneral. I think the flexibility colleagues
have been given, which speaks to
our guiding principle of ‘freedom tosucceed’, has helped everyone feel more
supported and connected. Personally,
I know I’ve missed office interactions
and felt the absence of opportunities
to come together as a group – Walk
The World for instance – but thefocus on openly sharing updates andinformation regularly throughout has
greatly helped people feel connectedto the wider company.

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

Informa has a strong network ofcolleague communities and colleague
support platforms around the world,which stood us in good stead whennearly every one of our locations
went into a period of lockdown.
But 2020 showed us, in very real andvery personal ways, our broader
responsibilities. Suddenly Informa
had 10,000 individual home offices.
And, more importantly, 10,000
households, with all the members

BW
March 2021 will mark one year since
we launched FasterForward, Informa’s
set of priorities for sustainability in ourbusiness. What are your reflections on
the first 12 months of FasterForward,
and has 2020 changed how you
see sustainability?

SC
FasterForward crystalised our ambition
to become a champion of sustainability
within our own business but also acrossthe many specialist markets we servethrough our portfolio of information,
data, events and educational brands.
We’ve increased our resources andinvestment in this area over the last
five years and, in the same period,
sustainability has become more andmore important for colleagues, citizens
and investors. In fact, we have somekey investors whose conversations
focus significantly on our record on
environment, social and governance(ESG) issues, with particular priorities
around promoting climate action andsupporting companies towards net
zero emissions.
I’m glad we made those commitments
and gained momentum before COVID-19
struck as it’s allowed us to make strong
progress despite the many changes 2020
subsequently brought.

BW
We’re certainly seeing plenty of areas
where FasterForward has helped us
as we’ve acted to protect and adapt
the business. I’ve spoken with manycolleagues and there’s a strong belief
across Informa that we can build
back better. Our framework has
already provided that impetus – forexample, Better Stands (see page 10)
is a ground-breaking programme tomaterially reduce single-use waste fromexhibitor stands.

SC

SC

Yes. Of course 2020 saw profounddisruption to physical events but we
continue to believe in the value andfuture of strong brands that bringcommunities together to connect, learn
and transact in person. Those physicalevents are likely to have technology
more firmly embedded within themthan before. They are also likely to
be complemented by ever moresophisticated digital and data-driven
services. This period has definitely beenan accelerant for digital innovation andadoption in our business and among ourcustomers and markets too.

Undoubtedly it will be a different world
and, speaking today in early 2021, it’s
important to be flexible as we track
the pace and shape of the recovery
from the pandemic. But whatever
shape that takes, we need to ensure wehave the capabilities to deliver for ourcustomers and markets, supportinga return to sustainable long-term
growth. That means it’s prime time
for FasterForward. The opportunity
is for all our colleagues to take what
we established and achieved in
FasterForward’s first year and embed it
into even more deeply into our business
and what we offer customers in 2021.

2020 also made us look further into the
future in our planning. In line with that,
we wanted to incentivise colleagues
around creating a sustainable businessbuilt for long-term success. We’ve
created more incentives for colleagues
to own shares in the business, toshare in our success, and updated ourleadership compensation structure
to put greater focus on long-term
equity value.

Stephen A. Carter
Group Chief Executive

Ben Wielgus
Head of Sustainability

BW
Moving on, the theme of diversity
and inclusion also touched many ofus during the last year, especially theBlack Lives Matter movement whichraised important discussions in society.
Can you say more about what Informa is
doing in this area?

SC
I see Informa as an international
business with colleagues and customers
from an incredible variety of countries
and backgrounds and I believe that ourculture is naturally inclusive – colleagues
say we are a welcoming business towork in and work with. We’ve done lotsof work under our AllInforma diversity
and inclusion programme in recent
years. We recently appointed a senior
executive from our Intelligence business,
Linda Blackerby, as Chief D&I Officer
to better co-ordinate our efforts andaccelerate our progress in this area.

BW
It’s great to see that.
Alongside inclusivity, as the world starts
to re-engage physically, what do you
think are our key focus areas?

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0SCof those households and the myriadpressures they have been put under.
It has underlined how important it isfor us to connect with colleagues andour community in whatever ways wecan. We are in the process of further
enhancing the wellbeing support
available to all colleagues and you can
expect to hear more about that in thenear future.

INTRODUCTION

Informa:
Connecting
Sustainability

3

4

FA S TE R FORWA R D: OUR A PPROACH TO SUS TA IN A BLE BUS INE S S

5Richard Menzies-Gow
Director of IR &Communications,
Informa Group, London

A

Throughout last year we worked
closely with our colleagues, investors,
communities, host cities and customers
to build stability and security in the faceof the COVID-19 pandemic. Critically,
this has not affected our commitment
to embedding sustainability into
everything we do. We are becoming amore resilient company as a result andit is equally rewarding to see the success
we’ve had in helping our customers andspecialist markets do the same.

There has been a loud and clear
call from world leaders for a green
recovery from COVID-19 and to use
the opportunity to “build back better”.
Through our Purpose of Championing
the Specialist, and by connecting
people with knowledge, Informa canplay a key part. In this report (pages 14 –21) we share examples of how we areembedding sustainability in our brands
to help drive a more sustainable futurein the specialist markets we serve, as
well as contributing to the UN
Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) and supporting the response to
COVID-19.

The UN SDGs are a worldwide call toaction to address challenges related
to health, education, equality andthe environment. Achieving thesegoals by the UN’s target date of2030 will help ensure a sustainable
future for everyone on the planet,and businesses like ours play animportant part. In this report, we
describe our contributions to the
SDGs from our operations andthrough our content.

The foundations for how we
do businessWithin our own operations, in2020 we became a CarbonNeutral®
certified company, reduced our waste
and continued our commitment tosustainable, safe and secure events,
whether in digital or physical format.
We also supported our colleagues
through a challenging year, both

32

personally and professionally, andtook steps to become a more diverse
company, whilst celebrating (digitally,
for the most part) five years ofcommunity support and colleague
engagement through our Walk theWorld programme.
When speaking with colleagues,
investors and other stakeholders, it isclear that environmental, social andgovernance (ESG) issues are more
important than ever. So I’m glad to see
our efforts were recognised by ourcontinued inclusion in the DJSI World
Index and improved performance in
key investor indices such as MSCI, ISS
ESG and CDP.

Faster to Zero

Sustainability Inside

Impact MultiplierMoving faster to becomea zero waste and net zerocarbon business.

Embedding sustainability inside
every one of our brands tohelp our customers accelerate
sustainable development intheir specialist markets.

Multiplying the positive impact
we can create when we improveaccess to knowledge, help people
connect more efficiently andinvest in our communities.

Informa exists to connect people
with knowledge and our greatest
impact in the world is through thecontent and connections we deliverfor our customers.

Through the content we provide,
we can help connect and inform those
who struggle to access knowledge
and networks.

To help meet the urgent challenges of achanging world, we are moving faster toreduce our carbon and waste footprint
with the aim of becoming a zero waste
and net zero carbon business by 2030.
Wherever we can, we will also actively
help our partners, customers and wider
markets to achieve the same.

While plenty has been achieved so far,we continue to learn along the way
and this will help us go further andfaster in the future. We believe thatby continuing to put sustainability at
the heart of our business, following
our clear roadmap, we will becomea better business, well equipped toadapt to a rapidly changing world.
Although 2020 was not the year
anyone expected, with all thechallenges and restrictions createdby COVID-19, I hope that colleagues
recognise the continuing progress
Informa is making to become anever more sustainable business andthe growing impact we are having
in helping to support sustainable
solutions in the many specialist
markets we serve. Everyone should
feel proud of their individual
contribution towards this and,hopefully, inspired to further
support the progress towards oursustainability goals. I know I am.

To help our customers go faster, andto accelerate the sustainable progressof the specialist markets we serve, weare embedding relevant sustainability
content inside each of our brands.
Whether it’s through events, intelligence,research or training, we’ll provide ourcustomers with the content andconnections that can drive amore sustainable future for their
specialist markets.

Our commitments1 ecome carbon neutral as aBbusiness and across our products
by 2025

2

Halve the waste generated throughour products and events by 20253

Become zero waste and net zerocarbon by 2030 or earlier

Our commitments

4
5

When they connect at our events andonline, we can help customers be evensmarter and more efficient with theirtime and travel.
Where we work in a specialist or local
community, we can partner with themand invest in ways that help themsucceed and create more positive
impacts in turn.

Our commitments

Embed sustainability inside 100%of our brands by 2025

6

Help and promote the achievementof the UN’s Sustainable
Development Goals throughour brands

789

 nable one million disconnectedE
people to access networks andknowledge by 2025
Contribute $5bn per year in value
for our host cities by 2025
 ontribute value of at least 1%
Cof profit before tax to community
groups by 2025
Save customers more carbon than
we emit as a business by 2025

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

t the beginning of 2020 welaunched FasterForward,
Informa’s updated
approach to sustainablebusiness. It follows several years ofinvestment to build the foundations forbecoming an ever more sustainable,
positive impact business and sees us
set ambitious targets in areas where
we believe we can have the mostimpact: our own operations, our direct
impacts on communities, and ourindirect impacts on the world from ourcontent. In many ways, setting targets
was the easy part, especially since wedidn’t know what 2020 had in store forall of us.

Embedding sustainability into
everything we do

INTRODUCTION

Our approachto sustainablebusiness

6

FASTER TO ZERO – CARBON

7

I

Commitments:

1

3

 ecome carbon neutral asBa business and across our
products by 2025
 ecome net zero carbon by
B
2030 or earlier

Progress highlights:• Achieved CarbonNeutral®
company certification in 2020
• Achieved a score of A- from
CDP, the world’s leading
environmental benchmark• Over 100 events assessed
through our sustainable event
management framework
which includes working withvenues and suppliers to reduceenergy consumption• Continued our real estate energy
and space efficiency programme• Reported on our climate risks
and opportunities following the
TCFD recommendations• Expanded our percentage of
renewable electricity usage
to 97%• Define and pilot carbonneutral products• Complete measurement ofemissions from digital products• Quantify our climate risks andopportunities under various
scenarios to align fully with TCFD

Linked to SDG:

Nicolas Desolino
Group Sustainability& Reporting Manager,
Informa Group, London

Even with the challenges
presented by COVID-19 in 2020,
climate change remains frontand centre of our priorities –after all, neither vaccination nor
self-isolation will guard against
it. FasterForward doubles downon Informa’s commitment toclimate change action and
we are really pleased by our
ongoing progress.
Read more: informa.com/climateimpacts

n particular, Informa becamea certified CarbonNeutral®
Company in 2020 in line with
The CarbonNeutral Protocol
which is the leading global framework
for carbon neutrality. This involved
a programme of activities including
reducing our energy consumption,purchasing renewable electricity
and offsetting all remaining relevant
emissions. This moves us closer toreaching one of our Faster to Zero goalsof becoming carbon neutral across all
our operations and products by 2025.
It also aligns with the activities of manyof our brands, which regularly promote
content designed to help customers’transition to a low carbon economy.
Here we discuss how we’ve become amore resilient business and how wemitigate our climate risks, as well as
identify opportunities.

The impact of climate change
on our businessOur business model gives us somenatural resilience to the impact
of climate change, thanks to ourinternational breadth and operating
flexibility, and the increasing importanceof digital products and services.
However, we do monitor the risks andopportunities from climate change on
physical assets and changing market
conditions through our establishedrisk management processes. We arealso working to fully implement therecommendations of the international
Task Force on Climate-related Financial
Disclosures (TCFD). In order toimplement this effectively, we enhanced
our governance structure for climate
risks in 2020 and held workshops witha range of internal stakeholders, aswell as developing a more detailed
understanding of the breadth andrelative impact of the future impacts ofclimate change.

1

Reduced ourenergy consumption

One of the unexpected outcomesof COVID-19 has been the successful
shift to remote and blended working formany companies. At Informa, this has
proved effective and popular, and so
we have used the period to introduce abalanced working model for the future,with colleagues able to adopt a greatermix of home and office working. This has
led to the consolidation of offices andoffice space around the world, with
30 offices closed permanently andflexible working systems introduced
in many that remain. This has reduced
the number of desks per head and will
significantly increase the utilisation of
the space that remains, lowering energy
consumption onsite and emissions from
commuting. In 2020, as most offices
were only partially occupied throughlockdown periods, our total energy
consumption decreased significantly.

2

Generated and purchased
renewable electricity

There are still some emissions
generated by the company that
we cannot yet avoid, including heating
our offices, fuelling company cars,
powering generators and air/rail/taxi
travel for business, as well as hotel
stays. We compensate for them throughfunding high quality carbon offset
projects. Our work with Natural CapitalPartners supports a range of certified,
audited projects around the world thatabsorb or help avoid greenhouse gases
being emitted.
Some of our projects aim to conserveareas of high biodiversity value such as
grasslands and rain forests, or to plant
trees to absorb carbon and create jobs.
Others focus on renewable energy
generation for rural communities in
China and India. All projects not only
reduce carbon emissions but also
bring additional economic, socialand environmental benefits, such as
improving education, job creation andair quality.
Read more: Informa.com/carbonoffsetting

Our impact on climate change goes wellbeyond our own operations. In the next
pages, we share how we are connecting
and collaborating with others to learn
more, know more and do more in theeffort to mitigate climate change.

Certified
CarbonNeutral ®
companyCDP
DISCLOSURE INSIGHT ACTION

2020 CDP
score: A-

Rated mostimproved FTSE
100 company insustainability
reporting by EcoAct
In addition to our FasterForward
commitments, we have a target to
reduce our scope 1 and 2 emissions by
55% and our scope 3 emissions by 20%
by 2030 from a 2017 baseline. This has
been approved by the Science Based
Targets Initiative as in line with what thelatest climate science deems necessary
to limit global warming to below 1.5°C.

97%
of electricity fromrenewable sources

27,500 tCO e
2

We’ve reduced our carbon footprintby the equivalent of approximately
35,600 economy class flights from
London to New York

Following the lead of our office inColchester (UK), our Boulder (Colorado,US) office became the second site to
install solar panels on its roof. Some 700
panels generated 274 MWh during 2020,
supplying 63% of the building’s overall
electricity consumption.
Elsewhere, Informa has an establishedglobal process to purchase renewableelectricity. Energy Attribute Certificates(EACs) allow us to match our electricity
usage with the required amount of
renewable electricity. As a result, 96%
of our office-based colleagues workin an office powered by renewableelectricity, with only a few exceptions incountries where the EAC market is notwell developed.
Read more: informa.com/renewableenergy

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

Next steps:

In order to become a certified
CarbonNeutral® company, the key areas
we needed to improve related to thegreenhouse gas emissions from theenergy we consume and our businesstravel. Here is how we did it:

3

Offset residual emissions
FASTERFORWARD–FASTER TO ZERO

Moving faster to
net zero carbon

Our journey tocarbon neutrality

8

F A S T E R T O Z E R O – C A R B O N continued

92

Purchased goods & services and capital goods

3

Business travel

Events’ waste 20,000

2017

2018

2019

2020
Events’ material use 11,000

7,010
7,026

Events’ energy & water use 5,000
Purchased goods & services
and capital goods 148,000

Our sustainable event management system is our frameworkfor helping reduce the carbon footprint from events throughinitiatives such as moving to renewable energy, efficientlogistics, making stands reusable and helping attendees reducethe impact of their travel. See pages 28-31 for more details.

We are working with procurement and external partners tomeasure emissions from our supply chain more accurately
and reduce them by asking suppliers to join us in moving to
renewable energy and developing carbon reduction initiatives.
As a company, we travelled much less in 2020 due to COVID-19– all remaining business travel is compensated for using highquality carbon offsets.
Read more: informa.com/carbonoffsetting/

6,477

5,305

1,441

843

After
renewable
electricity
purchase

4

Books & journals distribution

5

Use of digital products

6

Employee commuting and home working

7

Other emissions: waste and water consumption

2

1,429

397
1,075

1,075

912

912

2,148

2,148

164
692

233
164
692

1,966

1,966

2,504
567

After
oﬀsetsNet emissions

Market-based
emissions*

Location-based
emissionsMarket-based
emissions*

1,197

Location-based
emissions

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

We are one of the founding signatoriesof the Responsible Media Forum Climate
Pact. This commits us to implement
ambitious science-based targets andhelp encourage behavioural change in
our audiences towards climate-friendly
lifestyles. Through our FasterForward
programme we are already making
strides in both these areas.

Reducing emissions at events

Business travel 19,000
3Books & journals distribution 18,000
4Scope 1 – Natural gas
Scope 1 – Refrigerants
Scope 1 – Company cars and generator fuels
Scope 2 – Electricity usage

Use of digital products 21,000
5Home working approx 7,000

By expanding on-demand printing, we have reduced carbon
emissions and waste related to printing, storing and shipping.

The Digital Impact project(www.dimpact.org) is a collaboration
between scientists at the Universityof Bristol and 11 major media companies. It aims to help
the industry understand and manage the carbon emissions
from digital content. Informa became a founder memberof the group in 2019, recognising that digital is becoming
increasingly significant in all aspects of our business. This year
we worked with colleagues and coalition partners to establish
a methodology and identify data requirements. We expect
to see the results of this project in 2021.
In 2020, emissions from commuting reduced significantly
due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions. In the future, we
expect these emissions to be minimised through our adoptionof a balanced working model, with colleagues spending
fewer days in the office. For the first time, we have also
estimated our emissions from colleagues working from home.
There is no globally accepted methodology to calculate theseemissions. However, we wanted to give an idea of the scaleof these emissions.
We aim to reduce our office waste and water consumption andscope 3 emissions from office energy consumption each year.
Emissions from publications sent for pulping were reduced byexpanding on-demand printing, being more responsive to sales
patterns, and by donating unsold books.

6

Note: 2018 data includes UBM emissions from the date of acquisition.
* Market-based emissions take account of renewable electricity purchasing.

Employee commuting 2,000
7

Other emissions 2,000See our reporting methodology for details on how our emissions
are calculated: informa.com/sustainability/sustainability-reports/

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

The Responsible Media Forum
Climate Pact

1

Change in our scope 1 & 2 emissions over time (tCO2e)

Location-based
emissions

As members of business associations
that are committed to tackling climatechange, such as the Responsible Media
Forum and the Publishers Association
Sustainability Group, we are also
working with other leading companies
to reduce the climate impact of ourindustries. Through our membershipof UFI (the Global Association of
the Exhibition Industry), the Events
Industry Council (EIC) and the Societyof Independent Show Organizers (SISO),
we’re collaborating with peers to tackle
climate change in the global exhibitionsindustry. We are also a signatory of the‘We Mean Business’ coalition, which iscatalysing business action to accelerate
the zero-carbon transition.

Events’ logistics 59,000

1Location-based
emissions

We have described the environmental
impacts of a typical event in aprevious report (www.informa.com/
eventcarbonfootprint) and we areconstantly looking at ways to reducethese impacts, as well as those related
to our offices, publications and digitalproducts. We also recognise the valueof working with others to help solve
big challenges. As the decarbonisationof the economy continues, we believethat our brands can support our
specialist markets share knowledge
on climate impacts, opportunities andbest practices to help address andmitigate climate change.

Examples of some of our carbon
management programmes

FASTERFORWARD–FASTER TO ZERO

Working with others toaddress climate change

Breakdown of our 2020 scope 3 emissions
related to our Science Based Targets (tCO2e)

10

FASTER TO ZERO – WASTE

11

Commitments:2

3

 alve the waste generated
Hthrough our products andevents by 2025

Helping accelerate the future of
exhibition stands.

A major focus of FasterForward is to reduce the waste generated
from our operations, even those that have traditionally been seen
as intractable, not the responsibility of our industry or impossible
to change. This year we’ve initiated two key programmes to tackle
these challenges: Better Stands and ‘naked mailing’, both describedin the following pages.

 chieve ‘zero waste’ by 2030
Aor earlier

Progress highlights:• Launched the Better Stands
programme aiming to eliminate
disposable stands• Rolled out our sustainable eventsassessment to over 100 events
including working with venues
and suppliers to reduce waste
at events• Reduced the number ofpublications sent for pulping
by expanding on-demandprinting and donating books• Reduced waste from thewrapping of journals

Next steps:• Build on 2020 programmes tophase out millions of plastic
lanyards and event badges• Seek to expand the phase outof disposable stands to regions
outside of EMEA, and continue toreduce excessive stand heights

Until recently, finding a practicalsolution to the waste generated by
exhibitors’ stands, particularly singleuse stands, that could be agreed andimplemented across the multiple
vertical markets and customers that weserve, seemed almost insurmountable.
Over the past five years we worked
with our preferred partners to tackle
this issue, piloting various solutions
and encouraging developments inour supply chain. In 2020, as part ofFasterForward, we’re proud to launch
the ambitious and ground-breaking
Better Stands programme.

Leading sustainable change
Better Stands is a multi-faceted
programme to create better customer
experiences, whilst being moresustainable. At its heart, it is a moveto encourage exhibitors to shift fromsingle-use, disposable stands toreusable structures instead. With theright choices, our exhibitors build quality
stands in a safer manner and reduce not
only waste but also build costs and risks
in the build process.

Build, stand, repeat
With the postponement of mostphysical events in 2020, our brands
across Europe and the Middle East
took the opportunity to work with theirstakeholders to make Better Stands
the new normal. The programme has
already been adopted at some of ourlargest events, such as Arab Health,
CPhI Worldwide and IFSEC. For otherevents, there is a phased engagement
and implementation planned, with agoal of eradicating disposable stands
by 2024 across the Europe, Middle East
and Africa (EMEA) region. We’ll also be
expanding sister programmes in someof our other major markets including
Asia and the Americas.
Through Better Stands, we’re aiming
to build the scale and excitement tohelp our exhibitions industry create
its own, more sustainable future.
Several partners and peers have alreadyasked how they can join us as part of ourcollaborative effort to drive the industry
forward in a more sustainable way.

A Better exhibition experience.
Informa Better Stands, working
together to move away from
disposable stands.

How will this benefit
exhibitors?
• Smoother and more efficient build
and breakdown• Highlights the sustainable
credentials of our exhibitors’ brands• Lowers work hours and reducesbuild costs

How will we do it?
• Work with stakeholders tofind the solution that fits
their needs• Promote reusable stands andprohibit disposable builds• Ensure stands are made fromsustainable materials

When our industry works together, we are able toachieve far more than we can alone. We are gratefulso many of our contractors, venues and customers
were keen to partner with us to create a new future
for exhibitions.”• Ensure that all core elements areconstructed in a way which canbe reused

What will improve?
• Better quality stands andimproved customer experience• Significantly reduced waste andcarbon footprint• Safer working environment
on-siteWhat do exhibitors
need to do?
• Follow Better Stands
regulations as part oftheir contract• Ensure stand contractor isfollowing the regulations

Steve Smith
Chief Operating
Officer, Informa
Markets EMEAI N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

Linked to SDG:

Kerrie Kemp
Regional Operations
Director, Informa
Markets, London

Better quality. Better safety. Better
time efficiency. Better sustainability.

What is the plan?
• Support our exhibitors to moveaway from the use of disposable
exhibition stands

FASTERFORWARD–FASTER TO ZERO

Better quality,
better builds,
better stands

F A S T E R T O Z E R O – W A S T E continued

13

286k

244k

96%

2020

% of paper certified
as sustainably sourced

94%

2020

Tonnes of paper used

94%

Books sent for pulping Journals sent for pulping

281 tonnes
2019

121k

2019

684k*

271 tonnes
519k

2018

309k
470 tonnes*warehouse clearance

2020

2018

2019

3.5m high Frame & Fabric construction

We decided it was time to test.
We mailed journals around the world tocolleagues and customers and collected
feedback, along with pictures, to gauge
people’s reactions. Overwhelmingly,
people preferred the naked mailingas the journals almost all arrived in

2018

HOFEX 2019

As the first major academic publisher
to commit to plastic-free shipping, wehope that we can set an example of
how to move faster towards zero waste
in our industry. Our focus is now on
eliminating other plastic use acrossour entire production process, frompaper mills to distribution centres.

5,482 tonnes

For example, at China Beauty Expo in
Shanghai, using a reusable building for
the VIP lounge on the show floor saved
more than £20,000 compared to singleuse materials. Similar approaches arealso in use at CPhI China and FHC China
saving cost and almost eliminating wastefrom those builds.

Throughout Asia we are developing new
approaches to try to set the standard
for sustainable events across the regionand sharing our experience with others
wherever possible so that we can all
make the industry more sustainablein future.

Naked mailing has now beensuccessfully rolled out to all UK T&F
journals and we started a trial in the
US which has received positive results.
We aimed for 50% of T&F journals to be
mailed plastic-free, globally, by end of
2020, reaching 100% by 2022. This willsave 3 million plastic wraps per year,
equivalent to the weight of six cars.
We’ve also already saved 3.3 million
plastic laminations for covers.

2020

Exhibitor stand heights have been
lowered steadily across the region to
reduce the amount of material needed
to build them. For example, Hong Kong
Cosmoprof Asia and APLF/Fashion
Access have set stand heights at 3m,
down from 4m and 5m respectively.
All India events have reduced theirstand heights limits by 20% to 4m andall SinoExpo events have set height
limit below 4.4m, lowered from 6m
in the past. It’s involved some carefulmanagement of stakeholders to change
the perception that taller is better.
Not only do lower stands reduce waste
by a significant amount, they’re also
safer, faster and more cost-effective forour exhibitors. We aim to reduce themeven further in future.

Exhibitions generate many different
waste streams and we’re trying, throughour sustainable event management
system, to tackle each one. This includes
how we build our stages and rooms,
signage, printing, food waste, carpets
and so on.

We worked with our suppliers to run aseries of pilots for alternative packaging,including potato starch wraps, paper
wraps, and ‘naked mailing’, whereby
journals are mailed with no packaging
at all. This latter choice was clearly
the more sustainable option, butconventional wisdom told us it couldn’t
be done – that the journals would getdamaged in transit.

Customers prefer zero plastic

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

Standing tall (but not too tall)Managing other waste streams

Another innovative solution we are using
is engaging with not-for-profit partners
to help us repurpose waste. Our ProPak
Asia show in Thailand worked with theirvenue’s charity partner and donated 40
cubic metres of PET plastic waste fromtheir event which was then recycled into
medical equipment.

Unconventional wisdom

9,347 tonnes

Informa Asia, including our joint
ventures such as SinoExpo, aims tobe the leader in the region for hostingsustainable events. Our FasterForward
commitment of halving waste by 2025
gives us a particular focus on thewaste generated through our events,
and an opportunity for us to lead theway. The market is maturing quickly,
and we’re developing win-win-win
cases for organisers, exhibitors andthe environment.

Beyond construction, events such asChildren-Baby-Maternity Expo haveremoved all carpet from their event,saving around 120,000 sqm of carpetand £250,000 each year. At Furniture
China they saved £43,000 in waste
management and cleaning fees bybanning foam core signage boards,
which do not degrade in nature, andonsite painting.

2019

Betty Huang
Sustainability Manager– Asia, Informa Group,
ShanghaiWe’re also increasing the promotion of
the more reusable approach of frame
and fabric stands, where all elementsof the frame and fabric overlay can bedisassembled and reused. This builds
on regional pilots at events such as
Hospitality and Food Exhibition (HOFEX)
show in Hong Kong. In samples of trade
show stands, this halved production
time and reduced the amount of woodused in construction by more than
two thirds.

Becky Nobes
Manufacturing
Controller – Journals,
Taylor & Francis, Oxford

10,240 tonnes

Raising the bar, andlowering the heights,
for waste in Asia

Improving stands with ‘frame
and fabric’Pioneering plasticfree packaging
for academic
journalsvery good condition, sometimes better
condition, than other options and they
were seen as more sustainable.

FASTERFORWARD–FASTER TO ZERO

Tackling ‘impossible’
waste problems

Over the last decade, we’ve beentransitioning our readership to digitalfirst. However, some customers still
request physical copies. When that’s
the case, we use sustainable paperand biodegradable polywraps forposting our journals. But new scientificresearch showed that there were moresustainable choices out there than thesepolywraps. Given the potential to reduce
plastic, I really wanted to help Taylor &Francis (T&F) do more.

2018

12

SUS TA IN A B ILIT Y IN S IDE – S DG S

15

We have all seen how the COVID-19
pandemic has had a major impact on
education systems in schools, colleges
and universities around the world andtheir ability to deliver SDG4: Quality
Education. In the Taylor & Francis (T&F)
Behavioural Sciences & Education
Books team, we felt it was our duty tohelp. As lockdowns hit, we called on
the expertise and knowledge of ourinternational community of authors toquickly develop new content that would
help the world’s educators transition toonline teaching and adjust to the new
realities of remote work and daily life.

OD

HE

AL
TH

AN

UA

DW

ZERO

RT Y

TY

EL

ED

LB

HUN

UC

AT
I

EIN

O

5

N

G

GER

6

7

8

9 10 1
1

How ourcontent
and networks
contributeto the

12

LO
BE
E
R
F
L I AT E
W

13

W

N
EO
LIF D
N
LA

E
S TIC
D JU UTIONSE AN
ITPE AC N G IN S T
S T RO

7
16 1

N O P OV ELISUSCO TA I N A
MMUN BLE CI
RE
ITIE
TIE
S
SA
S
CO P OND
AN NS NSU
I
BLDM
PR P T E
CL
OD IO
IM
UC N
AT
TI
E
ON
AC
TI
O
N

GO

Working with Production and Sales
teams, we also released several
books on a fast-track schedule to help
educators adapt to an unfamiliar worldof teaching and learning post-COVID-19.
While the rigour of our production
process was the same as all Routledge
books, the process was expedited
to meet the needs of customers.
Titles include Thriving as an Online K-12
Educator, Educator Wellbeing and Lessons
from Lockdown which explore the impact
of COVID-19 on our schooling systems
and on educators’ mental health.

PA RT NE RS HIP S TO

AC HIE VE TH E GOAL

Our cross-departmental team is pleased
to have had the chance to use ourknowledge, connections and flexible
production capabilities to support ourcustomer communities.

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

Q

15

However, it is through our content andcustomer networks where we makethe biggest difference, as illustrated
in the diagram opposite, which shows
our products mapped against the most
relevant SDGs that they contribute to,based on the revenues they generate.

Heather Jarrow
Publisher – Education,
Taylor & Francis,
New York

We built and launched the free-toview website ‘Routledge Experts
On … Education’ in just six weeks.
Featuring over 60 videos from 50
Routledge authors, this site provides
quick and actionable strategies toaddress pressing problems, such as
how to teach successful virtual classes.
The site has been popular, boasting over
19,100 views in the first six months.

Many of our brands already help solve
major global challenges. Some, suchas our green building, solar power
and natural foods events and ourenvironmental academic publications,do so directly, as part of their primaryoffering. Others contribute to the SDGs
through the content and connections wehelp to create, curate and disseminate.
By enabling connections and access to
specialist knowledge, we are helping
others be more successful in their goals
and create lasting, positive change intheir industries, making our biggest
contributions to SDG 4 (on Quality
Education) and 17 (on Partnerships).
Through the way in which we are
running our business, we are also
particularly focused on delivering SDGs
8, 12 and 13.

Supporting
educators inchallenging times

A rapid response

14

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

We create efficient ways to generate tens of millions ofconnections between specialists and knowledge every year.
This helps them learn from each other as well as form and sustain
the partnerships needed to foster sustainable development intheir markets.

Y
D
IT
AN N
AL
ER IO
U
T
AT A
EQ
W IT
N SAN
ER
D
EN

32

Our ContributionG• Create more tools to support ourbrands to identify opportunities
to embed relevant sustainability
content into their content andto promote the SDGs
• Work with brands to embedsustainability inside all our
products, and track progress• Collect and share more stories ofgood practice to inspire others

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global
partnership for sustainable development.

EA

Next steps:

UN Description

CL• Over 150 events have beenassessed through the Informa
Sustainable Events Management
System (ISEMS) – see pages 30 – 31
• 72% of events completing theFundamentals (our 12 point
event sustainability checklist)
scored full marks for embedding
sustainability inside• Calculated our weighted
contributions to the SDGs
from our content and from ouroperations, shown in the charton this page
• Identified 2,640 new books andjournals in 2020 in our SDGOnline
platform that contributes to
the SDGs.

With all the changes that 2020 brought
to the world, the SDGs are more
important than ever. Each of our
specialist brands has a role to play inhelping with the successful deliveryof the SDGs in their markets. We haveshared some of their stories throughout
this report. Others are available online.

LE ERG Y
NDA B
OR E A N E
F
F
L
A
DC
N
A
K A NDT WOR
TH
D E C E N M IC G R O W
O
N
O
C
E

Progress highlights:

To take advantage of theseopportunities, our FasterForward
programme commits us to embedding
relevant sustainability content inside
100% of our brands by 2025 and tohelp promote the achievement of the
SDGs. Supporting our customers tomake their markets and industries
more sustainable empowers them tocontribute to the achievement of these
global goals.

It demonstrates how we are positioned
to support some SDGs more thanothers, reflecting the mix and balance ofspecialist markets we serve.

4

 elp and promote theHachievement of the UN’s
Sustainable Development
Goals through our brands

At the heart of our purpose of ‘Championing the Specialist’ is arole in connecting people with knowledge to help them learn
more, know more and do more. The better we do this, the morevalue we create for others and ourselves. Sustainability Inside,
as well as our Impact Multiplier goal of connecting one million
disconnected people with the knowledge they need to succeed,
all contribute to this goal.

3

5

Our Contribution

2

4

 mbed sustainability insideE
100% of our brands by 2025

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote
lifelong learning opportunities for all.

1

Commitments:

UN Description

R EDUCE
IN E Q U D
A L IT Y

A

ccording to the Business &Sustainable Development
Commission, successfully
addressing the SDGs will
create an estimated $12tn in newmarket opportunities by 2030. Some ofour main specialist markets such as
agriculture, infrastructure, health andtransportation are likely to benefit
the most.

Primary goals

FA S TE R FORWA R D – SUS TA IN A B ILIT Y IN S IDE

Embedding sustainability
in our content benefits
markets and society

INDUSTRY INNOVATION AND
INFRASTRUCTU RE

14

16

SUS TA IN A B ILIT Y IN S IDE – IDS VA NCOU V E R

17Design-inspired climate action

Jody Phillips
Director – IDS Brand
Canada, Informa
Connect, VancouverEngaging with the designcommunity on promoting
sustainable living is one of themost satisfying parts of myjob, and I firmly believe sustainability
is something in which our customers
have a keen interest. At Interior
Design Show (IDS), one of the world’s
leading interior design shows,
we’ve got a fantastic platform and a
responsibility to connect and inspire
our audiences on an agenda they careabout. Sustainability is relevant to a
lot of different important topics in our
industry, from waste to diversity, so it’s
important these themes run throughevery aspect of our event.

Sustainable by design

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

In another area of sustainability, we’remeeting our target to have at least 50%
women and 20% black, indigenous andother people of colour as speakers,
improving the diversity of our event.
One of our key talks provided a call toaction for designers to make inclusivity
a critical part of their work.

and get the community talking, but also
make sure that the content is digestiblefor everyone. It’s all about finding theright balance.

Appetite for the future

For example, in 2019, we hosted‘Edible Futures: Food for Tomorrow’,a thought-provoking installation fromartists around the world that addressed
the future of food. Even my husband(who is not in the design industry) andchildren enjoyed it! The event made thecover of Vancouver’s most widely readnewspaper with a headshot of one ofthe participating designers, Amanda
Huynh, a woman of colour, and now aprofessor of Industrial Design at Pratt
Institute in New York. It has been acareer highlight for me that we got theexhibition and that designer on the
cover of that newspaper.

As our show attracts both design
professionals and the general public, it is
our responsibility to push the envelope

I want to continue raising the bar eachyear and, in the process, help create amore sustainable design industry.

It is really important to the integrity of our brands that ourcontent is trusted by the specialists accessing it. At a time whendifferentiating facts from ‘fake news’ is becoming more difficult,trust in specialist content is increasingly important, particularly
within research publishing. We aim to set and maintain thehighest standards of publishing ethics and integrity.

O

ne of Informa’s Guiding Principles is ‘‘Trust must be earned” and thisis especially true for our research journals which help people discoverand learn to help solve some of the world’s biggest problems, including
those outlined in the UN SDGs. Trust allows faster acceptance of science,
including in areas of sustainability such as climate change.
Here we share two stories on how we’re supporting the academic researcher
community with training on how to become more effective peer reviewers andproviding tools and resources for internal and external teams on ethics in publishing.

Ethics andintegrity inacademic journals
Sarah Robbie
Head of ResearchIntegrity & Ethics, Taylor& Francis, Oxford

The Journals Publishing Ethics andIntegrity team at Taylor & Francis helps
ensure we’re publishing research that
researchers, policymakers and the
public can trust. This requires guidanceand support for our internal editorial
and production teams who support the
publication of quality content. We also
assist teams in responding to reader
queries about issues such as plagiarism,
breach of privacy or data errors.

In 2020, to promote awareness andconsistent application of our ethicalstandards, we created a central hub for
Publishing Ethics and Integrity, giving
our global Taylor & Francis Journal
teams easy access to resources andinformation that support them inhandling queries. Our public-facing
Editorial Code of Conduct and Editorial
Policies were launched, helping authorsand editors ensure they are meetingthe highest ethical standards. The teamhave also presented webinars as partof global outreach to researchers
and are preparing their 2021 Editor
Training launch.
We work closely with industry bodies,collaborating with other publishers andstandards setting groups to help thewhole sector.

Improvingthe qualityof reviews
Diana Marshall
Head of Reviewer
Programmes, Taylor& Francis, Oxford

Expert reviewers are essential to ahealthy peer review process and fordeveloping trustworthy research.
In 2019 we launched a programme,‘Excellence in Peer Review: Taylor &Francis Reviewer Training Network’, toimprove reviewers’ ability to criticallyassess a manuscript and write a good
review report.
The training programme is also designed
to bring in more qualified reviewers
from diverse regions of the world. So far,
we’ve trained over 3,200 researchers,
primarily in China and India, but also
from Africa, Australia, the US, UK and
more, through in-person and digitalsessions. The training is designed toprovide practical skills in how to bea peer reviewer. 95% of participantsevaluated the training as useful orvery useful, with the majority saying
they had learnt something new during
the session.
We maintain a long-term relationshipwith reviewers who complete thetraining and invite them to review
our journals where they haveappropriate subject expertise. Over 550
participants have actively volunteered
to be reviewers for one or more of ourjournals following the training. Our next
step is to give feedback on their reviews
to ensure continuous improvement.
This training not only benefits theacademic community but also provides
reviewers with lifelong skills andpossibly advancement in their careers.

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

In 2020, we had to reimagine our event
as a completely new hybrid experiencefeaturing online and offline events.
But we were able to introduce virtual
talks on sustainable design and therelationship between architecture andcommunity life. We also conducted
an in-person tour of a manufacturing
facility that uses more sustainable,
durable materials to inspire the useof longer-lasting products.

Discussing climate change at an interior
design show may seem unusual.
But when I first spoke with the City of
Vancouver Sustainability team about
the city’s climate action plan, I knew
I wanted them to present at IDS andengage the community as they had
a powerful and important message.
The city was also keen to share its plan,
but we needed the right approach to
make sure that it would resonate with
our audience. So, we worked together tocreate a presentation thathighlighted how the city’s climate plan
could reshape how we design, build andtravel in Vancouver, and the importantrole that designers can play to help meet
our local climate targets.

Trust in content

FA S TE R FORWA R D – SUS TA IN A B ILIT Y IN S IDE

Inspiring sustainable
design in our events

18

SUS TA IN A B ILIT Y IN S IDE – COV ID R E S PON S E

19Philip Jarvis,
EMEA General
Manager, Informa
Intelligence, LondonT

he response to COVID-19 saw
most of our businesses adapt
their operating approachthrough 2020, with many alsoinnovating rapidly to include specialist
content and services to support the
response of the specialist markets
we serve.

In the early days of the pandemic, the torrent of information about COVID-19 felt
like it risked creating more problems than it solved for the medical profession.
As the world’s leading provider of intelligence for Pharma and MedTech
professionals, our 2020 challenge was to curate our data, insight and analysis
into easily accessible services with reliable content to allow healthcare andpharmaceutical companies to respond better to the virus.

Keeping physicians
connected

For example, in our events businesses,
London Tech Week convened a
HealthTech Summit to ignite discussion
and debate on the most pressing topics
in global health. Informa Markets’
healthcare brands came together tolaunch the Omnia Health platform(made up of Omnia Health Insights andOmnia Health Marketplace), as a way ofuniting the healthcare industry virtuallyand providing knowledge and resources
to the broader community. Our Fashion
portfolio supported the industry byrunning educational webinars on
topics such as moving to digital andfinancial assistance programmes forsmall businesses.

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

In the following two stories you’ll hearin more details how other brands
responded to the unprecedented crisisand contributed to the SDG3 – Ensuring
healthy lives, SDG8 – Decent Work and
SDG17 – Partnerships.

Linked to SDG:

We knew COVID-19 was also affecting
the daily lives of physicians and that,as people were isolating, it was more
important than ever for them to stayconnected digitally and share bestpractices. Fortunately, we alreadyhad just the right platform: our
700,000-strong social network forverified healthcare professionals, Skipta.

Life-saving data
At Pharma Intelligence, our priority
was to create structure around all
the COVID-19 information available.
Our team also wrote over 1,000 articles
on the topic based on our investigations,outreach and expertise, and created aseries of informative webinars covering
the industry response to the pandemic.
We made important content, including
updates on ongoing clinical trials fromaround the world, available for free
in a dedicated dashboard. We also
provided more in-depth data andinsights to governments, academics
and consortiums of pharmaceuticalcompanies at a reduced cost, or for free.
By providing this data to all stakeholders
in the battle against COVID-19 we
supported the race to develop a vaccine,whilst underlining our brand as a trusted
and necessary source of information forthe community.

Within this digital platform, we launcheda microcommunity, COVID-19 UNITE,
for information exchange, educationand cross-specialty collaboration on the
COVID-19 virus. The Skipta teamcollaborated with colleagues fromacross Pharma Intelligence to givethis network free access to the best
information on COVID-19 and, just as
importantly, on the delivery of general
healthcare during the pandemic.

PharmaHelping ahumanitariancrisis at sea
The COVID-19 restrictions imposedby governments around the world
had an impact on all our lives. But forthe seafarers who crew cargo ships
responsible for transporting 90% of
global trade, the precautions led to ahumanitarian crisis. As crew rotations
were restricted, an estimated 400,000
seafarers were stranded on cargoships far and wide, in some cases formore than a year. The extreme fatigue
experienced by crews increased the riskof error which could have catastrophic
consequences, such as an oil spill.
At the same time, a similar number of
seafarers were stuck on land, unable toearn a living. And nobody was talking
about it.

Charting the story

Joined-up thinking

At Lloyd’s List we pride ourselves
on providing our customers with acomplete picture of the global shipping
industry. We’ve been doing it for over
300 years. We felt that it was our
responsibility to raise awareness about
this issue and to tell the human stories
of seafarers. Our coverage was later
picked up by international mainstream
publications, such as the New YorkTimes, which further helped bring theissue to the attention of governments
and industry groups.

With analyst-curated content,
information on clinical trials from
Citeline, and access to our Primal
Pictures anatomy software, we helped
our network provide the best healthcare
during the pandemic. We also supported
physicians in maintaining quality
non-COVID-19 healthcare through aseries of webinars on topics such aspractice management, remote patientmonitoring, telehealth, and more.

By leveraging our brand as a trusted
publication in the industry and removing
the paywall, we were able to tell thestories of the stranded seafarers ina way that would raise support for

Through this joined-up approachacross Pharma Intelligence, we areconnecting healthcare professionals
with knowledge and networks to help
them and their patients through a very
difficult time.

Lloyd’s List

their cause within the industry andgovernments. We created a free-toaccess Crewing Crisis homepage toconsolidate information on the issueof stranded seafarers, and get people
inside and outside the industry tounderstand the scale of the problem.
This helped facilitate communication
between governments, shipowners andseafarers and promote the developmentof protocols for safe crew changes amid
the coronavirus pandemic.
For example, in July 2020, weinterviewed a stranded ship crew fora story and soon after we were glad tohear that they were able to leave theship and return home.

The role of seafarers
This crisis exposed the fabric of the
supply chain that supports our society
and shopping habits. When we pick up
something at the supermarket or receivea package from Amazon, we tend not tothink too much about how it got there.
It often involves thousands of low-paid
seafarers, who spend months at sea,
and are essential to the flow of products
around the world.
That’s why, in 2020, we named theseafarers at the top spot in our annuallist of the 100 most influential people inmaritime (www.lloydslist.com/Top_100)
rather than the usual owners and CEOs.
With shipping such a global, fragmented
industry, the crisis of stranded crews
is not one that a single company or
government can solve alone. But thanks
to the raised profile of the issue, it is now
being addressed by the United Nations’International Maritime Organization.
It was not just down to us, but we’rereally pleased to have played our part asa hub of knowledge on current industry
issues. We feel that we can make ourbiggest contribution by continuing
to raise awareness of the issue andencourage collaboration across theindustry and governments.

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0Taylor & Francis worked to ensure all
relevant research on COVID-19 was
made available to experts. This included
prioritising rapid publication of
COVID-19 materials, creating a dedicatedF1000Research gateway to showcase
published research, providing freeaccess to COVID-19-related content andfree eBooks and etextbooks through ourpartnerships with VitalSource, Kortext(in conjunction with JISC), and Red Shelf.

Michael Hay,
Head of Intelligence
Products, Informa
Intelligence, New York

Richard Meade,Managing Editor– Lloyd’s List,LondonFA S TE R FORWA R D – SUS TA IN A B ILIT Y IN S IDE

Supporting the fightagainst COVID-19

Dr Theodore F. Search,
CEO – Skipta,
Informa Intelligence,
New York

20

SUS TA IN A B ILIT Y IN S IDE – D& I IN CONTE NT

We believe it’s important that our content reflects the wealth ofdiversity amongst our customers and our markets. We want tocreate more inclusivity and opportunity for all, particularly for
marginalised communities. It is part of our commitment to helping
even more people to learn more, know more and do more.
This supports SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities – as well as helping us reach newcustomers and markets. It’s also a key part of sustainability, making sure that everyone
benefits and diverse ideas and views are a part of the solution to big global challenges.
In 2020 we worked harder than ever to increase the diversity of speakers
and exhibitors at our events, as well as amongst writers and reviewers in our
publications and subscriptions tools.
Here we share more examples that are helping to drive creativity, innovation andentrepreneurship within the markets we serve.

Linked to SDG:

Fashionfor change
Don Pietranczyk
Vice President
Experiences & Education,
Informa Markets,
New York
I’m fortunate to work in an industry witha diverse mindset by default, but there’s
still a chasm between the opportunities
available to different groups, and muchroom to invite more people in. For me it’s
felt essential to drive inclusivity over recent
years – from addressing plus and extended
size models, to introducing an inclusivity
panel including a 70-year old social media
influencer and a speaker representing
the LGBTQ+ community. Not only is it
personally satisfying but professionallyit’s generated a great response fromour customers, highlighting an appetite
for relevant content that speaks tosensitive topics.

Supporting minority-owned
start ups
After the civil unrest in the summer of
2020, my team and I decided it was time
to solidify the work we were doing andcreated Informa Markets Fashion for
Change (IMFC). IMFC was designed to shedlight on and give strength to minorityowned brands of all kinds, by giving
them advice from industry professionals,
a platform to showcase their products and(in some cases) financial support.

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

We’ve seen an increase in requests forminority brands from our major retailcustomers. It’s win-win for everyone –the more diversity in your product, themore you have among your customers.
And increased customers equals
increased sales for us and our partners.
Without this increased variety we miss out
on what fashion is all about – expression
and interpretation.

AccelerateHer

Ashleigh Ainsley
Co-Founder,
Colorintech

The partnership between Colorintech andInforma Tech, which led to Black Tech Fest
(BTF), was in planning from early 2020 but,as the world mobilised to support racial
justice efforts on the back of the Black
Lives Matter movement, the urgency andsupport for it grew.
BTF exists to celebrate Black culture,
showcase innovation and create pathways
for underrepresented talent. Thanks to our
digital platform, we took the conversation
global: 3,500 attendees from 60 countries
participated in more than 50 sessions.
Initiatives for diverse communities in techcompanies have historically been internallyfocused. In contrast, BTF brought together
the leading tech companies for three daysof seminars, workshops, network eventsand awards, to encourage them to use theircollective platforms to drive wider industry
discussion. One BTF stream, the C-Codetrack for under 25s interested in a careerin tech, enabled large tech companies toconnect with underrepresented talent,with TikTok fast-tracking applications.
This creates a win-win-win for the talent,
our key corporate clients and Informa Techas the platform to connect them.
While the challenges and issues in the
sector were acknowledged, the event alsocelebrated the amazing progress withincompanies and Black people who areleading the way.

Resources for antiracist education
Matthew Friberg
Senior Editor– Education,
Taylor & Francis,
New York
To support the Black Lives Mattermovement, we wanted to do more tohelp educators talk about the issue ofracism with students. We know thesecan be difficult conversations to have,so we developed a website to offer freetools and resources from leading experts,
including books, lesson plans, thoughtpieces and workshop activities, to facilitate
conversations not just in the classroom,
but also in the broader community.
Taylor & Francis and Routledge have a long
history of being leading publishers of social
justice and educational material, putting us
in a unique position to support educatorson this topic. The Educating for Black Liveswebsite launched in August 2020, bringing
together more than 80 of the most relevant
readings and resources from across our
education, mental health and psychology
publications. It gives educators everything
they need in one place and helps us all
think more, and more deeply, about theissues presented.
We worked closely with specialist authorson all aspects of the website from its nameto the materials included. Not only has
the site been a success with over 14,000
site visits, we also now have authors cometo us with proposals for new books on
the topics we promote on the website.
As well as our own content, we also include
materials from societies, associations
and groups that don’t have a pre-existing
relationship with Routledge, and this isfurther broadening our customer base.

Promoting female
voices in tech
Kelly Shepherd
Community Manager,
AccelerateHer, Informa
Tech Founders

I help run Informa Tech Founders’
accelerateHER programme. It’s a global
events series and network (now 5,000
strong) taking action to change theunderrepresentation of women in tech inorder to secure an inclusive future acrossall business. In 2020, we ran 48 virtual
sessions with 100+ speakers, including
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Kiran MazumdarShaw, Dame Vivian Hunt and many more.
Our primary focus is to spotlight womenin tech, but we also take an intersectional
approach to highlight the voices whoaren’t being heard. In November 2020,
we ran a pitch competition for diverse
women founders in the UK, with thewinner receiving £5,000 equity-free cashand £20,000 worth of Facebook ad credits
to grow their business.
For me, the best part about accelerateHER
is the raw and candid conversations wefacilitate about the experiences of being awoman in tech. In April 2020, we launched#AHLIVE! and by pivoting to be fully
digital we’ve enjoyed opening up accessto our world-leading content and catalytic
connections. A participant who tuned in
to our first virtual event commented: “I’vebeen locked down for over five weeks,
have been made redundant and had to
furlough my team. This session was justthe motivator I needed”.
Next year we’re keeping the momentum
up. I’m particularly excited about thelaunch of our new Community Hub – anonline platform where our members
can enjoy year-round access to theaccelerateHER global network.

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

Our inaugural programme, the Incubator
Program, gave ten brands a complimentary
digital showroom (worth $1,995 each) andassigned mentors from an advisory boardof fashion professionals. We also awarded
four grants, totaling $40,000, to the brands
that needed the most financial help.

A more inclusive
tech industry

FA S TE R FORWA R D – SUS TA IN A B ILIT Y IN S IDEDiversity andinclusion in
our content

21

22

I M PA C T M U LT I P L I E R – C O N N E C T I N G T H E D I S C O N N E C T E D

23Digitaldisconnection

Commitments:6

 nable one million
E
disconnected people to accessnetworks and knowledge
by 2025

Progress highlights:• Identified some leading examples
of programmes that provide
access to disconnected people• Created guidance to help
events introduce or enhancesuch programmes

Next steps:• Strengthen our reporting
processes to quantify the numberof connections created thanks to
our actions across all divisions• Work with each brand portfolio
to identify existing and future
programmes to connect
the disconnected

Informa exists to champion thespecialist, connecting people with theknowledge and networks to help themlearn more, know more and do more.
Millions of people around the world are
benefiting from our curated content
and communities. However, there aremany more people we’d like to reach
who don’t, or can’t, connect with our
products right now.
This might be due to circumstances asdiverse as educational, cultural, digital,
financial and/or physical barriers.
We have committed to address thisissue for over a million people by 2025.
We believe that enabling greater accessto our content and networks supports
those who need it whilst opening up
new audiences and markets for us
and our customers.
How we connect with the disconnected
depends on the market and we are at
the beginning of our journey with thiswork. We’ve shared some inspiring
examples on these pages. These form
the basis for expansion in the future
as we reach out to each of our brandportfolios to identify good practiceactivities and measure our progress.
How we might connect the disconnectedvaries widely across markets and regions
and for many of our industries. There is,however, significant opportunity toaccelerate progress across the board
by sharing existing best practice.

Physical disconnection

Opportunityand language barriers

disconnection

Informa Intelligence is working hard to improve accessibility to its Primal
Pictures 3D anatomy software, by investing in technology to ensure users
with visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, andneurological disabilities or conditions can access content. This includes
the addition of screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, audio
narration and subtitles, text and interface scaling and colour preference
tools. The content was also translated into multiple languages to address
language barriers.

With most publishers based in
Oxford or London, young people
unable to relocate or commuteto these areas miss out on thevaluable and often necessary work
experience or internships required
to pursue a career in publishing. T&F
partnered with Reach Publishing toestablish an award-winning schemeand diversify publishing from thebottom up. By providing insights andlearning about the world of academic
publishing to young people fromunderrepresented backgrounds
around the country, T&F aims to
improve access to the industry.

Financial
disconnection

Responsibility
disconnection
Carers or parents with young
children can find it challenging
to provide care whilst travellingfor work, and disproportionately,
women often shoulder agreater proportion of childcare
responsibilities. This difficultyis exacerbated in single carerhouseholds. Our Black Hat event
has partnered with Kiddie Corp andintroduced day care to help parents
make the most of the event and not
be forced to choose between theneeds of work and home life.

In 2020, the Informa Connect Life Sciences team created the Global
Learning Scholarship Program (GLSP) to assist scientists from low- to
middle-income countries and students from underprivileged backgrounds.
The GLSP aims to provide researchers from diverse backgrounds andlimited resources the opportunity to participate in top-tier scientificconferences and advanced networking and training opportunities at
no cost, helping them access the latest ideas, science, technology andpartnerships to support the fight against diseases. This ties in wellwith similar, long-standing programmes within Taylor & Francis such as
INASP and Research4Life which enables access to scholarly content byresearchers finishing final projects in institutions in low income countries.

There is no one doing antibody engineering and cell and genetherapy manufacturing in my country, Malawi. And there is nocollege which offers these courses. Attending one of these
conferences will help me learn how antibody engineering or
gene therapy is done. I will use my knowledge and skills gained
to benefit anyone regardless of where they come from.”

Mphatso Tembo
Medical Laboratory
Scientist, Malawi
Ministry of Health

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

Linked to SDG:

Eleanor Train
Sustainability
Executive, Informa
Group, London

When educational institutions shut
down in China as part of COVID-19
lockdowns, many researchers
working from home struggled toaccess online academic resources
without the campus network,with its connection to the China
Education and Research Network(CERNET). To resolve this digital
disconnection, various teams at
Taylor & Francis (T&F) moved quickly
to join the CERNET Authentication
and Resource Sharing Infrastructure(CARSI) which enabled us to provide
efficient and convenient remote
access to the academic community
in China, allowing them to use T&F
online resources at any time andplace. It also enabled T&F to offer
online trials to potential new
customers, who previously lacked
the opportunity to benefit fromits products and services.

FA S T E R F O R WA R D – I M PA C T M U LT I P L I E R

Connecting thedisconnectedI M PA C T M U LT I P L I E R – H O S T C I T I E S A N D TA X

25

Next steps:• We’re looking forward to a returnof WTW in 2021 and a resurgenceof our products’ ability to support
community organisations• We’ll also enhance ourguidance, engagement andmeasurement processes

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

Responsible tax payments around the world:Paying tax is part of our contribution to the societies in which we operate.
Our taxes help governments provide vital services and infrastructure, which
we in turn rely on to run our business successfully. In 2020, the Group’s total
tax contribution was £257.2m, including £87.8m of taxes borne by the Groupand £169.4m of taxes collected on behalf of governments.

£257.2m
Total tax contribution in 2020

So, in early 2020, we relaxed ourvolunteering rules to allow colleagues
to support their community in any way
they wanted to, whilst also removing
the annual four-day volunteering limit.
Some opportunities to volunteer ingroups have been reduced due to
COVID-19 restrictions but we’ve seen
an upswing in our most committed
volunteers being able to give more timeto help their communities. This has
resulted in more than 1,000 volunteer
days registered.
Beyond the contributions of individualcolleagues, we also wanted to step up
the support our brands gave to specialist
communities and host cities, in manycases building upon foundations laid inprevious years. The stories opposite arejust a few examples selected from ourInforma Markets business.

2020

2019
2019 total£1,432k2

2020 total£651k

Company donations (cash)
Volunteer programme spend(including value of staff time)
Donations in kind1

1 Includes all known donations in kind2	Restated following data review toremove double counting of induced
colleague donations

Colleague fundraising induced

2018
£191k

2019
£305k

2020
£43k

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

Linked to SDG:

But cash donations are just one way ofmaking a contribution. In a year where
human connection was ever morevaluable and recognising the need forstrong community support in the faceof COVID-19, we wanted to provide
colleagues with as much flexibility as
possible to make a difference.

2018 total£1,409k£194k

In our 2019 Sustainability Report, we
described the value created by one of
our shows, Vitafoods Europe, for its hostcity of Geneva and for its exhibitors.
In 2020, Informa went a step further
and expanded the tool to measure theimpact from all of our events in some ofour key host cities, starting with the cityof Las Vegas.

In the past, external consultancies
have calculated the economic impact
of shows in our portfolio, such as
World Routes and the Fort Lauderdale
International Boat Show. However,having our own model allows us tocalculate the potential economic
benefits and taxes raised based on
various possible attendance levels,and helps us work in partnership withcities to attract visitors. This will be
particularly valuable in helping to attract
business travellers back to events as theglobal economy recovers from COVID-19.

Overall cash donations were lower
in 2020, mostly due to our flagshipprogramme, Walk The World, being
scaled back whilst people were working
from home, and as many of ourcolleagues were unable to take partin individual fundraising efforts, suchas marathons.

£283k

Linked to SDG:

On a roll

Back to business• With the disruption of many
events in 2020, including our own
in house fundraising for Walk
the World (WTW), our ability tosupport with cash and in-kind
contributions required innovative
approaches but our communities
have never needed help more
• We relaxed our volunteeringrules to allow unlimited
community volunteering bycolleagues during the pandemic.
Hundreds of colleagues chose to
take us up on that offer despite
all the challenges of volunteering
during COVID-19

Company donations 1£174k• Use our tools to lead
discussions with host cities
about enhancing the impactof events on their cities• Continue to expand
measurement globally anddevelop tool further

Progress highlights:

7%784people£446k2

Next steps:

 ontribute value of at leastC
1% of profit before tax tocommunity groups by 2025

£424k

• Completed the next phase ofInforma’s externally developed
methodology for measuring the
economic and environmental
impact of events on host cities

8

13%
1,446
people£562k

Progress highlights:

As a responsible events operator, it
is very important to us to build andmaintain strong partnerships with thelocal communities where we operate,
contributing to essential infrastructure
and leaving behind a legacy within thecities where our events are hosted.
Two years ago, in partnership with theindependent consultancy, Little Blue
Research, we developed an impact
valuation model that measures the
economic and environmental impactof an event on its host city.

Commitments:

15%
1,729
people20187

 ontribute $5bn per yearCin value for our host cities
by 2025% of colleagues volunteering£354k

Commitments:

Our contributions to local
communities come from manydifferent sources, including
direct cash donations, in-kindgiving, volunteering andinduced donations such as
fundraising by colleagues
and attendees at our events.

How we are tracking
our contributions£376k

Mark Temple-Smith
Chief Operating
Officer, Informa
Markets, London

The model, which had previously been
piloted with events such as GreenBuild,
AfricaCom and ExpoEast, uses publicdata as well as our own events andprocurement data. For Las Vegas, oneof the world’s major event hubs, we
calculated the economic impact from19 events we hosted in the city through2019 at over $600m. This includes
approximately $25m in direct state andlocal taxes raised from visitors to ourevents, alongside other benefits for local
businesses, including new investment
and contracts for local exhibitors,
expenditure across the exhibition supply
chain by exhibiting companies, andsupport for the local tourism industry.

Rallying ourbrands to support
communities’ needs

FA S T E R F O R WA R D – I M PA C T M U LT I P L I E R

Informa contributes over
$600m to Las Vegas economy

£678k

24

26

I M PA C T M U LT I P L I E R – C O M M U N I T Y C O N T R I B U T I O N S A N D C O 2 S AV I N G SJackie JamesGroup Director – Worldof Concrete, Informa
Markets, Irving

The 2020 World of Concrete Auction was our best
ever. The results are indicative of the high value
the concrete industry places on the CIM program.”
Ben Robuck
CIM Auction
Committee Chairman

Supporting themost vulnerable
small businesses
Lacey GautierGroup Show Director –Natural Products, Informa
Markets, Boulder

It was heart-breaking to have tocancel Natural Products ExpoWest 2020 at short notice when
the pandemic spread in the US.
Many exhibitors had already incurredcosts by planning for the event and had
expected to make a high proportion ofannual sales at the show, whilst also
developing valuable new relationships.
This is especially true for the smallest
and newest entrants to the market,
many of whom told us they might
struggle to survive without our event.

We stepped up andcreated a $5m fund tohelp support the mostvulnerable exhibiting
companies.”

Anabela Gomes
Informa Markets,
São Paulo

Carla Ramhold,Informa Markets,
São Paulo

When we postponed our showsin March due to COVID-19,
our team decided to help ourpartners in the industry – thebuilders, suppliers and otherprofessionals – who havebeen left without income
due to the pandemic.
To have the greatest impact, we joined
forces with fellow event organisers from
NürnbergMesse and Reed Exhibitions.
We knew it would be difficult to raise
funds during this period. But by working
together, we all campaigned hard andraised enough to produce and distributemonthly baskets containing food,hygiene products and other essentials
to 1,000 local families over four months.
The team’s efforts were boosted bya donation from Informa’s Walk theWorld #Take5 challenge (see later in thisreport for more on this). The team alsodelivered 500 special Christmas baskets
to families.

Saving time,money and carbon
Commitments:
Save customers more carbon
9 than we emit by 2025
Progress highlights:• In early 2020, we ran a pilot tomeasure the number of flights
our attendees thought they had
saved by instead achieving a
number of goals in one place at
our events. Across a small sample
of 15 events, we estimate a net
saving of 190,000 flights
Next steps:• We are taking the lessons learned
from the pilot and expanding thisacross other events in 2021

Linked to SDG:

Ben Wielgus
Head of Sustainability,
Informa Group, London

The international exhibitionindustry has always known
that one of the biggest benefits
we create for customers is theefficiency of time, cost andtravel that is delivered bybringing together so much of
their industry under one roofat an event.
Our portfolio of major event brands
serves as the focal point for an industry
to gather each year, creating huge value
for attendees and exhibitors. It enables
customers to meet, learn, networkand trade all in one place, reducing thesignificant amount of bilateral travel thatwould otherwise be required.
In 2020, we piloted a way to measure
this value across tens of thousands ofcustomers. The results have shownstrong evidence that our customers
can save journeys – and therefore
time, money and carbon – by coming
to a single trade show that convenes
an industry.
The pilot was the first time the industry
had been able to demonstrate this at
scale and we’re working with othersin our industry to expand the work atother events in 2021, where we look tounderline the full value of returning tophysical events in a world with greater,
albeit temporary, constraints on travel.

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

Recognising these challenges, we
stepped up and created a $5m fundto help support the most vulnerable
exhibiting companies. By engaging
an independent advisory council, weestablished the criteria for how best to
manage and disperse the fund and thisled to around 860 companies within the
Natural Products community benefiting,mostly small and emerging brands.
Whilst not traditional charitable giving,
we felt this was an absolutely essential
step to support our customer base andthe broader community through such achallenging period.

Getting together
as an industry tosupport our partners

FA S T E R F O R WA R D – I M PA C T M U LT I P L I E RWorld ofConcrete sets new
fundraising record

The concrete industry is changing,and it needs people who not only
understand the fundamentals ofconcrete, but also soft skills such ascommunication, management, quality
assurance and cus-tomer satisfaction.
That’s why we’re proud to have raised$1.2 million at the 2020 annual auction
to help students attend the Concrete
Industry Management (CIM) education
programme, offered at four universities
across the US. This brings the total
amount raised during the last decade toover $10 million, with more than 1,500
graduates and currently 500 students
pursuing CIM degrees.

27

28

SUS TA IN A BLE E V E NT S

29

Our focus has always been on providing customers of all types
with a wide choice of in-person and digital services, whether they
are looking to find products, make sales, learn, meet peers, complete
training or profile and market their brands.
In 2020, expanding our digital event services became a priority. That meantfitting several years’ innovation and experimentation into just a few months
to enable us to provide customers with an effective virtual experience,as well as a safe physical event where local conditions allowed.
Physical and digital events each have their own strengths. Offering a mix of bothis important to achieve our purpose of championing the specialist and connecting
people with knowledge.

Making digital
events sustainable
Lucille Ryan
Senior Sustainability
Manager, Informa
Group, London

We caught up with Lucille Ryan, one of
the architects of Informa’s sustainabledigital events toolkits.

2020 rapidly accelerated innovationand trends that were already shaping
Informa to become a digital-firstcompany. Our sustainable events
framework helps physical andvirtual events meet our customers’sustainability expectations and create
value from being more responsibly run.
As digital events became the norm in
2020, we quickly created new guidance
and training applicable for delivering
sustainable digital events. This helped
enhance digital events’ brand andmade them increasingly differentiatedfrom others.

A digital event is likely to have a lower
environmental impact but this is only
one part of what we consider in an
event’s sustainability. We worked tounderstand what opportunities being
digital brought us as well as what new
challenges it posed.
New opportunities lay in connectingwith new audiences, expanding thereach of the content we provide andhelping drive a more sustainable
future for the specialist markets that
we serve. New challenges emerged inunderstanding an event’s digital carbon
footprint, as well as how we could adapt
our initiatives to ensure we continued tosupport our local communities.

What sustainability topics areof particular importance in adigital format?
Very quickly we realised that ensuring
we embed a conscious considerationof our attendees’ wellbeing into thedesign and delivery of the events playeda key role in our customers’ experience.
Popular, often sponsorable, activities
ranged from providing workout sessions,
to mindfulness zones, to creating virtual
dog walking communities.

A key part of our events’ sustainability
is considering how they can provide the
networks and knowledge, to help ourcustomers address the big sustainability
challenges they face. In 2020, this focus
was more important than ever as ourmarkets adapted to rapid changes andgrowing awareness of sustainability
topics. Like their physical counterparts,
digital events provide fantastic
platforms to embed sustainability
inside, helping to address issues like theSDGs and how to make our customers’markets more sustainable in a postpandemic world.

Do digital events reacha broader audience?
Absolutely. One of our key areas offocus is around how we can Connect
the Disconnected by identifying andovercoming physical, social or financial
barriers to allow more people to accessand benefit from the knowledge andnetworks we provide. With more digital
events in 2020, new routes opened up
for our events to connect with people,
including on demand content, translated
content and being able to network fromhome. Whilst not a direct replacement
for physical events, these offer
opportunities for new audiences.

Around 80% of ourcustomers say it’s
important that a trade
show displays a strong
commitment tosustainability.”

Restarting
physical
events, safely
and securely
Steve Dyson
Head of Group Health,
Safety & Security
Management, Informa
Group, London

The safety of our attendees, exhibitors,
colleagues and suppliers is always ournumber one priority. As many of our2020 physical events were postponed,cancelled or pivoted to digital, wequickly created a project team to further
improve the experience of our faceto-face events as they came back on
stream. The goal was to develop a set ofenhanced biosafety measures to reduce
the risk of COVID-19 infection and give
all our stakeholders the confidence toattend our events, as
permissions allowed.

Collaboration with industry
and government
We collaborated with governments, local
authorities, our industry association
partners (including UFI, AEO and SISO),venues, suppliers, contractors and otherevent organisers to develop an industrywide ‘AllSecure’ framework for COVID-19
risk management.
Informa events have always run inaccordance with official government
and local authority regulations and any
venue-specific guidance. The Informa
AllSecure guidelines add a further layerof measures to provide the highest
standards of safety, hygiene andcleanliness. This includes ten priority
commitments that all our events
seek to adhere to, covering enhanced
cleaning and personal hygiene, physicaldistancing, procedures to detect
symptoms of COVID-19 and protection
against the virus.

73%

of attendees at our Beautylife
Bonanza show in Malaysia told us
they had heard of the AllSecuresafety measures before attending
and that their decision to attend
was influenced by these measures

The Fort Lauderdale Boat
Show 2020 will be one noneof us in the marine industry
will ever forget. And not justbecause of the masks, andthe hand sanitiser, but also
the busy docks, the contracts
that came in when nobody
expected it, and an
overwhelming sense ofcommunity. We sold moreboats and yachts than we
expected. Not only was ita good event for the city
at large, it was meaningful tothousands of small businesslike ours.”
Bob Denison
President,
Denison Yachting

Data privacy
Giving attendees
control over theirdigital journey
Yasmeen Rahman
Group Data Protection
Officer, Informa Group,
LondonMaintaining the trust and confidence ofour customers and partners is part ofour guiding principles, and it’s critical to
the success of our business. That’s why
we always want to be upfront and clear
about how we handle our customers’
data, providing them with control over
how it is being used. As we move intolarge-scale digital events, the way weuse data becomes even more important.
For example, during digital events, wewant to be able to direct attendees tothe most interesting content to themand to the most relevant business
partners. As attendees explore virtual
halls and exhibitor booths, we wantthem to be able to decide how muchpersonal data they share. This means
holding more complex and personal
data about our customers than before,
and so it is imperative that this is
managed securely.

Data in the futureBlack Hat USA, one of our major
information security events, was one
of Informa’s first major digital events to
map out the digital journey of attendees
and provide clear privacy notices atcritical touchpoints. This experience
helped us establish new guidelines
for all events, “Building Privacy into
Virtual Events”.
As we develop our digital services evenfurther, we can apply these concepts toensure that all brands understand how
to effectively protect customer privacy.
And by working in partnership withteams across Informa, understanding
their ideas and ambitions for the futureof their business, we help them navigate
various data protection laws around theworld in a commercially responsible way.

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

How did sustainability help
events be more resilient during aperiod of significant change?

Aren’t all digital events by nature
more sustainable?

What role does Sustainability
Inside have for our customers?

Informa AllSecure

SUS TA IN A BLE E V E NT S

How we’re adapting events
for a more resilient future

Using Informa AllSecure as ourstandard, we successfully ran dozensof physical events in the second half of2020, including a series of major eventsin Mainland China and several others inHong Kong, Thailand, USA, UAE, Egypt
and India. The AllSecure standard isnow being adopted across the events
industry worldwide.

30

M A N AGING SUS TA IN A B ILIT Y ACROS S A LL OUR E V E NT S

31

We believe there is an opportunity to generate
long-term value by making events more sustainable,
regardless of whether they are physical or digital.
That’s why we launched our Sustainable Events
Management System in 2019. It’s a framework to
inspire and enable all events to meet customers’
expectations on sustainability and to deliver on
our FasterForward commitments. We’ve given justa sample of examples to the right.
The Fundamentals are a 12-point checklist of
key sustainability considerations that we believe
all our events should be addressing in order tomeet the basic sustainability expectations of amodern audience. These aspects are: Purpose,
Stakeholder engagement, Carbon & Waste,
Procurement, Community & Wellbeing andGovernance. More information is available in our2019 Sustainability Report. We’ve adapted theirimplementation in 2020 to cover digital events too.

Artist Project,
Informa Connect, Toronto
Having just celebrated its 14th year,
Artist Project wanted to engage with thecommunity, protect the environment, andcreate an experience that delivers on its
purpose of “a more personal experience
with art.”
The event promotes emerging artistic
talent from diverse backgrounds, partners
with local non-profit organisations andbusinesses, and communicates with its
audience on sustainability practices
online, in print and over social media.
The event obtained full marks in their 2020
Fundamentals Report, one of the firstevents ever to do so.

Bio Process International
Europe, Informa Connect,
Amsterdam/digital
Like many of our events that moved toa digital format in 2020, BPI had to think
about how it would continue to engage
its audience on sustainability digitally.
They did this by sending out daily energysaving tips to attendees on how they could
reduce their energy use while attending
online, sharing recipes for lunch and snacks
to encourage healthy eating, providing
live yoga sessions for attendees during
the event, and incorporating charitable
donations into the networking quiz prizes.

China Beauty Expo,
Informa Markets, Shanghai
As one of the first shows to open after
the outbreak of COVID-19, China Beauty
Expo followed Informa’s AllSecure andlocal health & safety guidelines to leadthe recovery of the event industry in Asia.
The event also implemented several newsustainability initiatives. In particular, theevent focused on reducing waste (byusing reusable frame structures as muchas possible), removed paper registration
forms, and stopped using plastic signage.

SUS TA IN A BLE E V E NT S

Rolling out the Fundamentals
to physical and digital events

Since their launch in 2019, over 150 events havecompleted the Fundamentals, 57% of whichwere held digitally in 2020. In addition, theSustainability team has now taken 17 events throughthe Accelerator, a higher tier, more advanced
sustainability programme for events, enabling themto go further and faster forward.
The Fundamentals have inspired new conversations,challenged ways of thinking, and kept ourteams focused on key areas of sustainability.
The Leaderboard, published internally, has also
tapped into the competitive spirit of our colleagues.

Propak Asia,
Informa Markets, Bangkok

Event in a location that completed the Fundamentals

Sustainability is an important talking pointin the data centre industry. In fact, Data
Center World has an entire conference
track dedicated to reducing energy
consumption: Mission Critical Facilities andEnergy Management. Data Center World
recognises the importance of having its
own sustainability efforts implemented
at the event. This includes reducing waste
and sourcing food from local vendors.
Attendees and exhibitors are also emailed
in advance about making their trip
and attendance more sustainable.
The event has also grown its health &wellbeing and diversity & inclusion
programmes, including schedulingwellness & relaxation breaks and hostinga Women in Data Center session.

Biocontrol LATAM,
Informa Connect,
Santiago de Chile/digital
Our agriculture show in Chile went digitalin 2020 and was the first event in Latin
America to report its sustainability
performance and obtain a Fundamentals
rating. Prior to the show, the team got
together to learn more about theFundamentals and brainstorm how they
could achieve their sustainability goals.
Through this planning, they created anagenda for the first day of the event thatwas dedicated to developing sustainableindustry practices with talks about
regenerative agriculture, food safety
and sustainable production systems.

Arab Health,
Informa Markets, Dubai
Through content such as the Innovation Hub,the Bridging the Gap in Medical Knowledge
conference stream, and the HealthInvestment Forum, Arab Health promotes thesustainable development of the industry
and delivers on its “Together for a HealthierWorld” purpose. In addition, the show
was powered by 100% renewable energy,
reducing the carbon footprint of the eventby an estimated 972 tonnes of CO2e.
Arab Health is also the first show
in the Middle East to obtain the ISO
20121 Sustainable Event Management
System Certification.

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

Data Center World, Informa
Tech, Orlando/digital

Propak Asia aims to shape the packaging
industry for a sustainable future throughproduct innovation, community
engagement and ethical operations.
Sustainability content is integrated before
and throughout the event. In particular,
the Sustainability Square highlights the UN
Sustainable Development Goals and theirrelevance to the event. More information
is available in the event’s sustainability
report. This earned the team a perfect
Fundamentals score.

COLLEAGUES – INTRODUCTION

Patrick Martell
Chief Operating Officer,
Informa Group, London(2019: 80%,
2018: 77%)

say that theirwork gives thema personal senseof accomplishment(2019: 83%,
2018: 79%)(2019: 84%,
2018: 82%)

Global gender diversity

Female20
20 %es 8: 59
u
1
ag 20

All
m
201 ana
g
9: 5
3% em
20 en
t
1

54%

59%

Leadership
gro
u

29%

201 p 20
8: 3
2
2% 0

42%

2019: 30
%

71%

8:
%

20

25

2020

£2.1m

2019

£2.7m

2018

£2.9m

Colleague turnover
2020

11%

21%

2019

10%

26%

2018

16%

26%
Turnover for all businesses

Absenteeism
Average sickness absence per colleague (days)

2020

2.3

2019

3.3

2018

3.0

58%
Ge

n de

2019

: 6 2 % 2 0 18: 6 0 %r s p lit o f p ro m o ti o n s

202

0

21.3%
30%

of our Board are women

UK gap in male/female medianpay (2019: 22.3%; 2018: 22.7%)
Go to informa.com/gpg for more

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 02020 has been a transformative year for
Informa. I’m proud to see how quickly
we adapted to working remotely andhow much more we’ve learned aboutproviding digital products.

Investment in formal training programmes

Voluntary turnover

Emerging as a stronger company
We are now renewing our focus on
re-skilling, promoting internal mobility,
developing the right talent and bringing
the right skills into the company. This isparticularly important as we develop
our digital services and enhance ourdata capabilities.

8:
5

2020
10,9452019
11,296

Spend on training

46%

70%
30%

Male

4%

9%

41%

20

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

of colleagues
believe strongly
in the goals andobjectives ofthe business

201

Across our divisions, we promoted
new and existing initiatives to support
colleagues’ mental health, including
a dedicated intranet portal, curated
LinkedIn training, workshops for

I think that’s something we shouldcelebrate too.

colleague
engagement scoreacross a rangeof questions

t ors

Then, of course, the COVID-19 virus
spread around the world and we had
to adapt. We moved rapidly to allow
colleagues to work remotely and later
adapted our offices to be COVIDsecure. Working from home has someadvantages but can also be difficult
because of the lack of social
interaction and lack of boundaries
between home and work life.

Our annual Pulse survey, taken in June
2020, showed that colleagues weregenerally positive on the approach thecompany has taken to managing theimpact of COVID-19. But it wasn’t justthe company supporting colleagues.
We’ve seen communities of colleagues
stepping up, connecting and supporting
each other. This included expanding our
AllInforma networks, our approach topromoting diversity and inclusion.

86% 88% 84%

0%

We started 2020 with a very different
agenda. Two years after integrating
several large businesses into Informa,
we wanted to strengthen a numberof HR programmes and invest in tools
to improve the colleague experience,
digitalise the recruitment process, andenhance skills across the board.

We also increased communications withcolleagues throughout the year andcreated a fund to support colleagues
whose households were struggling
financially due to the exceptional
circumstances. I’m so pleased that wewere able to help everyone that madea request.

2018
11,19720
20

What a year...

Throughout 2020, we progressively
implemented a range of cost-saving
measures to mitigate the impacts ofthe disruption in our events businessand protect the company for the longer
term. Our approach was to protect
roles and preserve salaries as far as
possible, while providing colleagues withas much personal flexibility as possible
to manage their time around personalcommitments, and take a period of timeout if they needed to through offeringsabbatical programmes. This gives
us the skills and resources to bounceback more strongly as we emerge fromthe pandemic.

D ir e cAround the business in 2020,
there were great examples of
local office and team cultures
supporting each other andworking together for the same
purpose of Championing
the Specialist.

If we can hold on to this andinstitutionalise it, I believe we’ll be a lot
more successful in the future.

HeadcountSupporting colleagues andeach other2019: 3

Together, our colleagues make
Informa what it is. Our culture
is one whole made up of
many different individuals,
offices, divisions, brands
and businesses. By working
together, we have the scale
to help make our industry
more sustainable, look after
our people, and support ourcustomers in creating positivechanges in their markets.

For most of us, it’s been a challenging
year, both professionally and in our
personal lives. But one silver lining stoodout for me in particular: I saw leadersconnecting with their teams in a newway, at a much deeper, more personallevel. I saw colleagues being more openwith each other, willing to speak up
when they were struggling, and more
ready to offer help to others whenneeded. I noticed a stronger sense ofsolidarity and community.

How we are tracking our contributions

C

An organisationof more than
10,000 stories

The events of 2020 show me that, as
an organisation of more than 10,000
colleagues, we have more than 10,000
stories. And to be a successful company,
we need to listen and connect with allof them.

managers, virtual team building
activities, talks with external
experts and a confidential employee
assistance hotline.

COLLEAGUESOur colleagues’
shared culture

33

20 oll
19 e
:5

32

34

COLLEAGUES – D&I AND WTW

35

We want to have a workforce
that represents the diversityof all our customers andcommunities, and we believe
in attracting, recognisingand supporting a diversity of
talent that incorporates manydifferent cultures, communities
and backgrounds.
By allowing all colleagues to bring theirwhole selves to work, we are drawing on
the unique skills, talent and experiencesof each individual to collectively achieve
our ambitions, both professional
and personal.

W W W. I N F O R M A .CO M / S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

These build upon the success of
AllInforma Rainbow, which wascovered in our 2019 Sustainability
Report. The group had a fantastic
Pride month in 2020, with speciallycurated content available to colleagues
throughout June. The highlights saw
Rainbow Champions across the globe
sharing their thoughts on what Pridemeans to them – a great way to uniteand feel connected. The network has
now grown to 10 chapters aroundthe world.

Walked over

Raised over

150,000kms
in 120 locations$1,000,000
for over 60 charities

Sam Muturi
Informa Graduate
Fellow, London

Shining a light onaccessibility issues
Eloise Thomas
Education Consultant,
Informa Connect,
LondonLiving with an invisible disability or
condition can sometimes be isolating.
As someone living with invisible
conditions, I have experienced thismyself, especially through the pandemic.
I knew that I could not be alone in feelingthis way. Illuminate, a new colleagueled network, was created to shine alight on this topic and to provide a safe
space for colleagues to share their own
experiences and explore how we can
improve and support accessibility bothinternally and externally.

Championing
improved accessibility
At Informa, we believe in championing
the specialist; there are already fantastic
accessibility groups and subject matter
experts across our business, and by
unifying these efforts and getting
more colleagues involved, we believe
we can really make a difference.
AllInforma Illuminate is a great exampleof how when the world changes, Informa
colleagues work hard to adapt andchange with it.
Illuminate is just at the beginning of its
journey and I am really looking forward
to seeing how it grows in 2021.

I was tremendously moved andequally frustrated in the weeks afterGeorge Floyd’s murder, and amidst the
momentous Black Lives Matter movement.
Conversations on race, equality and justicefilled my group chats, zoom calls and social
media feeds. I wanted to see this reflected
at Informa too.
After connecting with like-minded
colleagues, we created a space where
we could share our thoughts andfeelings. We decided that we wanted to
expand beyond our group and grow ourconversations about race, equality andjustice into an Informa-wide programme.
We agreed that we needed to be heard
and feel connected, that we wanted alevel playing field, and that we deserved
representation – not just for a moment in
time, but in a way that would create lastingchange to make Informa an even more
inclusive workplace.

Five years ofWalk the WorldOver the last five years we have:

Abi Taylor
WTW andSustainability Campaign
Manager, Informa
Group, London

around the world

VietnamBoston & Burlington

Walk the World goes digital!
Over the summer, many of our local
Sustainability Champions rose to thechallenge of evolving their walks in a waythat kept everyone safe and adapted to
local needs. In a WTW-first, we had several
fully digital walks, with colleagues walking
solo but connecting via video calling andphotos, as well as hybrid walks where
small numbers of colleagues chose to walk
together locally.

ThailandThis resulted in over 800 colleagues
completing in-person walks, with creative
dance routines, singing and historic
walking tours. 600 more colleagues
connected virtually for walks.

A network of nations
Out of this passion, AllInforma Nations
was founded. As a group of more than
250 colleagues, and supported byInforma’s leadership, we’re seeking toconnect, engage and empower colleagues
from underrepresented ethnic groups
in Informa by creating safe spaces foradvocacy, networking and mentorship.
We also want to support our external
communities through community outreachand celebrate different cultures in Informa.
Early successes include an overwhelmingly
positive response to our digital launch
event, with 200 people joining, and ourongoing engagement with colleagues
on Informa’s intranet. I believe that
we are normalising the ability to have
uncomfortable conversations throughour #HumanisingExclusion series andcelebrating the diverse cultures of our
ethnic minority colleagues with our
Cultural Awareness articles. We have alsoestablished regional committees andchapters. It really feels like we’re alreadymaking an impact at Informa.

Walk the World (WTW) has always been a
special event for colleagues. It’s a muchneeded point of connection for all of us
to come together in our locations all over
the world, take on the challenge to walk
whatever distance is manageable, andraise money for causes we care about.
It’s testament to how much WTW means
that, even with everything that happenedin 2020, many colleagues still wanted totake part.

AucklandBangalore#Take5WTW
We wanted all colleagues, no matter
their local situation, to be able to get
involved. For six weeks in June and July, wecelebrated five years of WTW by launching,‘Take 5 for Walk the World’ – a competition
whereby colleagues submitted pictureson the theme of ‘5’ to win a donation to acharity of their choice.

New Delhi

Hong Kong

AucklandAround the world

The campaign was a huge success, withover 200 entries from all six Informa
divisions, £15,000 donated and great
engagement of over 26,000 impressions
on our intranet. Walk the World has
evolved a lot in 2020; we’re excited to takeeverything we’ve learnt and become bigger
and better next year!

I N F O R M A P L C S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T 2 0 2 0

Supporting diversity and inclusion
involves a tailored approach toindividual cultures of different countries
and divisions. To support this, we havea range of Group and division-led
initiatives, such as Informa Markets’
Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging
Action Plan. We also support the launchand running of colleague-led networks,
including Taylor & Francis’ Global
Diversity and Inclusion Network
and Informa Tech’s Black Colleague
Network and Women in Sales.
Some of these have become crosscompany global networks, such as the
newly created AllInforma Nations and,more recently, AllInforma Illuminate(see stories opposite).

Starting theconversation
about race

Celebrating 5 years of WTW!

COLLEAGUESChampioning
diversity at
InformaMore 2020
Sustainability
highlights
There are many sustainability
stories in this report but there
is more we want to tell. Read on
for more detail on our progressin 2020 and where to go for
more information.

Learn more about the environmental impact of ourevents in our Event Carbon Footprint Map.
informa.com/eventcarbonfootprint
HOTEL

Team hotel and travel

Our Environment continued

Ambitions• Increase our use of sustainable hotels• Shift to more sustainable modes of transport andseek to oﬀset emissions from ﬂights
Examples• We’re in discussions with our hotel providers and someshows, such as Pharmapack Europe, have alreadyswitched to a more sustainable hotel this year.
• The Health Ingredients Europe show team cut theircarbon emissions by 90% by taking the train.
• Several shows, such as Leather Expo, GreenBuild andExpo East and West, carbon oﬀset their team travel.

Understanding
and acting onan event’s impact

Size of impact (% Control 1)

33%

Size of impact (% Control 1)

LEVEL 1Size of impact (% Control 1)
A GREATEVENT

1%

WELCOME
Lucille Ryan, Sustainability Manager,
EMEA Informa Group, London

Size of impact (% Control 1)

Energy use of venue

Working to exceed expectations
Every Informa division runs events of varying sizes,
ranging from a few dozen attendees to hundreds ofthousands. This makes us one of the largest events
organisers in the world, particularly in the B2B space,
and the environmental impact of our events iscorrespondingly large. We know from attendee surveys
that more than 80% of our audiences want events to be
run in a responsible way. Last year’s sustainability
report shared 40 ways our events can be moresustainable (informa.com/sustainable events) across
our pillars of Content, Communities and theEnvironment – with the aim of helping others make theirevents more sustainable too.

Size of impact (% Control 1)

Size of impact (% Control 1)

Catering organised by Informa

Ambitions• To reduce the quantity of waste generated at our
events and to increase our level of recycling
Examples• Shows such as Decorex, One of a Kind and MAGIC
have introduced water reﬁll stations to prevent
plastic bottle waste.
• Where local facilities support it, some shows like
GreenBuild are starting to achieve more than 90%
recycling rates from landﬁll.
Size of impact (% Control 2)

Informa feature build

3%

Size of impact (% Control 3)

For more information
HOTEL

Attendee hotel stays
Ambitions• Help our attendees make informed sustainablechoices when selecting their accommodation
Examples• GreenBuild audits all of its recommended hotels to
help them identify areas they can improve theirsustainability. They back this up with education
sessions for the host hotels. Oﬀsetting is part of theshow’s ‘green legacy’ in the host city.
• We are working with our main hotel consultants toﬁnd ways of highlighting the most sustainable hotelchoices to our attendees.

14

Exhibitors’ disposable stands

Organiser logistics
Ambitions• Increase our use of sustainable transport methods
and reduce our amount of transport through the useof local suppliers
Examples• We work with contractors who seek to consolidate
freight at out of town warehouses. This reduces
shipping, congestion and pollution.
Size of impact (% Control 1)

3%

Ambitions• Work towards preventing the use of disposable
exhibition stands which are our main cause of waste
Examples• CPhI WorldWide is leading trials to introduce
regulations preventing the use of disposable
stand structures.
• Cosmoprof Asia and APLF Leather & Materials haveboth reduced their maximum stand height to 3m,
resulting in an estimated reduction in stand waste
by 50%, as well as making stand builds faster, safer
and cheaper.
• Furniture China highlights and rewards bestpractice through their sustainable stand awards.
• These all helped UBM group win the UFI’s(Global Association for the Event Industry) 2018
“Best Practices in Sustainable Exhibiting” award.
Size of impact (% Control 2)

99%

10%

Size of impact (% Control 3)

We are using them to guide our decision making and to help
stakeholders understand the relative impact of our events.
The graphic above shows it split by control, and to the right
we've shown the overall impact.

informa.com/
sustainableevents

31%

Exhibitor logistics
Ambitions• Encourage exhibitors to use the most sustainablelogistics option and work with our key logistics
companies to improve eﬃciency of shipping
Examples• We encourage exhibitors to use show contractors
where possible, making it easier to consolidate
shipping and provide materials/equipment locally,
reducing long haul shipping.
• By introducing a time slot booking system for event
trucks, Vitafoods Europe greatly reduced local
congestion and the resulting air pollution.
Size of impact (% Control 3)

Informa Markets Fashion, in partnershipwith the Fashion Institute of Technology(FIT) partnered in 2020 to launch the FIT
Future of Fashion Showcase. This digital
exhibition provided FIT’s graduates with
unparalleled industry exposure to major
retailers, brands and industry leaders.
fashionshow.fitnyc.edu/

9%Control 1

The numbers on this page show estimates of the carbon footprint
for a typical event based on a sample of more than 50 events but
it is important to recognise there is a large variation by event.

Learn more about
what’s Inside a
Sustainable Event

60%

1%

27

5%

07

Ambitions• Source catering locally and sustainably, without
single-use plastic packaging
Examples• Attendees tell us they want healthier, locally sourced
food at events. Broadband World Forum invited a local
microbrewery to set up on the show ﬂoor and ourRemode fashion show increased its meat-free options.

Notes

INFORMA PLC THE ROLE WE PLAY 2018

Bins and cleaning waste

H20

Carpet used by Informa
Ambitions• Find a sustainable solution to disposable exhibition
carpet as part of an industry-wide collaboration
called SEBIG
Examples• Freeman, one of our largest contractors in the US,
seeks to reuse carpet up to 10 times.
• Some UBM shows have trialled carpet-free aisles.
• In Dubai, carpet is recovered and used in schools or
homes.
• Almost all our European carpet is recycled after events.

Size of impact (% Control 1)

38

Attendee travel
Ambitions• To engage our attendees with sustainable travel
options and to oﬀset the carbon emissions of theirtravel to the event as a part of registration
Examples• Shows like CPhI WorldWide and Natural Products Expooﬀer attendees the option of oﬀsetting the carbon
from their travel to the event.
• We are exploring ways that we can make this part ofthe standard registration process.
• Decorex International oﬀered a free coﬀee toattendees who used public transport to the event.

Ambitions• For all parts of the show built by Informa to generate
zero waste
Examples• UBM in EMEA has worked with GES to create newregistration stock items which solved the issue ofdisposable registration builds.
• In Las Vegas, shows have purchased water reﬁll
stations for multiple reuses.
Size of impact (% Control 1)

44%

This year, we’ve seen more interest from ourstakeholders in the environmental impact of events,
including plastic usage, climate change, food sourcing
and species extinction. Our goal is to have a market
leading approach to running the most sustainable
events possible. Of course, it takes time to do things
consistently across more than 500 trade shows andhundreds of conferences. But the combination of skills
and experience that comes from our expanded
sustainability team puts us in a great position.

0.3%

32

Ambitions• Use LEDs for all lighting• Venues have energy management plans• For all electricity to be from renewable sources
Examples• MAGIC show and MGM invested together to replacelighting with LEDs throughout Mandalay Bay.
• 14 European shows and counting currently choose
renewable energy.
• Our YPI boat shows have reduced their fuel usage(1/3 of Informa’s total fossil fuels) by nearly 10% over
2 years, and plan on a 35% reduction by 2021.

1
trol
Con

Promotional and lanyards
Ambitions• Find a solution for lanyards that creates zero waste
Examples• Our Sleep + Eat show piloted bamboo lanyards.
• More shows, such as IFSEC, are collecting lanyards forreuse or recycling.

2
trol
Con

1%

Paper for brochures and newspapers
Ambitions• Ensure all printing uses entirely FSC-recycled paper
Examples• Our Paper & Timber Policy asks shows to seek
sustainably certiﬁed, recycled paper and almost allshows across Informa and UBM are compliant.
• Pharmapack Europe reduced the carbon impact of its
event printing by 14% by switching to recycled paper.

A GREAT EVENT

3
trol
Con

Signage used by Informa
Ambitions• For all signage to be made from sustainable materials
and to be recycled after use
Examples• Many shows, such as MAGIC and World of Concrete,
reuse their signs from year to year by ensuring they
are not dated and that branding has longevity.
• Our Black Hat Europe has also been trialling theuse of PVC free banners, reducing our reliance on thisharmful material.

45

Informa Markets kick started there-opening of the Hong Kong exhibitionindustry and helped local exhibitors andsuppliers “get back to business”.
meetings-conventions-asia.com/News
Destinations/Hong-Kong-trade-industry
restarts-with-focus-onwellness-and

4%Control 2

3%

Control 3

reconnecting

93%
Attendee travel 60%

Attendee hotel stays 31%

New Hope Network has committed to eliminate single-use
plastic at Natural Products Expo by 2022. To support thisambition, the team created a sustainable packaging toolkit
for its exhibitors and suppliers.
newhope.com/business-resources/sustainable-packaging-toolkit

Exhibitor logistics 9%95%

of colleagues have successfullycompleted our mandatory Codeof Conduct training. The Code of
Conduct asks all colleagues to act
according to our guiding principles
and the law in areas such as
respect and safety.

SASB, GRI and data tables
As lnforma has grown, our impact andresponsibility to conduct our businessethically has also grown. Read more
about how we have prioritised Honesty,
Integrity and Human Rights in 2020
informa.com/humanrights

Download our GRI and SASB
indices, reporting methodology ,policies, KPI table and information
about governance of sustainability
at Informa.
informa.com/sustainability/
sustainability-reports/

Memberships and awards

268

Number of sustainability-related
stories on Portal, our intranet

Taylor & Francis’ Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs)
Online collection supports
higher education students,
lecturers, researchers andprofessionals as they learn
about, teach about, research
and write about, and workout how to address theworld’s most critical issues.

2,400
book chapters

240

journal articles and20+

pieces of teaching andlearning material have been
added to our SDG Online
collection in 2020.
taylorfrancis.com/sdgo+58,000

8of our major offices have a green
certification (BREEAM or LEED),
representing 23% of officebased colleagues.

Our performance against environmental,social and governance (ESG) criteria isreflected in various third-party ratings.
Find a summary of our ratings here:27%

informa.com/sustainability/
sustainabilityawards/

of eligible colleagues participate
in Sharematch schemes
informa.com/talent/
why-work-at-informa/views of stories of sustainability-related
stories on Portal

External assurance statement

COVID-19
In February 2020, Informa Markets
in Malaysia invited the country’s
Director-General of Health to address
200 business leaders to clarify the
COVID-19 situation and combat themisinformation that was circulatingin the country at the start of theepidemic about the virus.
youtu.be/14ylDwjO9yo

Diversity and Inclusion in Biotech
exemplifies how our colleagues
and events are promoting positivechange in the industries they serve.
informaconnect.com/diversity-inclusion/

Omnia Health Live
Africa brought the African
healthcare community
together during a five-day
virtual event to discuss
the continent’s response
to COVID-19.
https://informa.turtl.co/story
evolution-of-healthcare-africa/

Bureau Veritas UK Limited has been engaged byInforma plc to provide limited assurance overselected sustainability performance indicatorsfor inclusion in its sustainability report.
This Assurance Statement applies to the related
information included within the scope of work
described below, for the period 1 January to
31 December 2020: Training, Absenteeism,
Global gender diversity, Waste, Greenhouse
Gas Emissions (Scope 1, 2 & partial Scope 3)
and Water. On the basis of the methodology
and activities described above, Bureau Veritas
concludes that there is no evidence to suggestthat the data presented here is not materiallycorrect and a fair representation of Informa’s
sustainability performance. A full verification
statement including methodology, limitations
and exclusions and the reporting criteria canbe found on the Group’s website.
For the full assurance statement:
informa.com/sustainability/
sustainability-reports/

DISCLOSURE INSIGHT ACTION

Our registered office address is:
5 Howick Place
London, SW1P 1WG
t: +44 (0)20 7017 5000
www.informa.com/sustainability
For more information on our sustainability
programme, or if you’d like to get involved,
contact sustainability@informa.com

This report is printed
on 100% recycled,
FSC certified paper inan ISO14001 and FSC
accredited, Carbon
Neutral factory.

We use biodegradable
vegetable based
inks. All waste paper,
chemicals and othermaterials generated
in the manufacturing
process are recycled.

The printed versionof this document
is a certified
CarbonNeutral®
publication, meaning
the emissions fromproduction and shipping
have been offset,
reducing them to zero.