Academic publisher’s response to SGR/UCS petition on climate pledges falls short.

19 September 2023
 

In October 2022, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) launched a petition for scientists asking publishing giant Elsevier and its parent company, RELX, to better align their business operations and practices with their stated climate pledges and goals. Over 380 scientists across the world signed our petition. We very much appreciate their support.

We sent the petition to RELX in March of this year. Dr Márcia Balisciano, Head of Corporate Responsibility for RELX, responded the following month. Dr Balisciano’s response made it clear that, while RELX/Elsevier is making progress in reduce its own corporate greenhouse gas emissions, it continues to turn a blind eye to its activities that enable other entities to remain high emitters.

Today, we sent a six-page response back to RELX that details why their actions fall short of meeting the standards set in their own pledges. These include concerns about its database services, partners organisations, and some of its academic journals.

You can find the original petition, RELX’s response, and the response we sent today here.

Scientists and others who wish to help with the campaign to change RELX/Elsevier's business practices are encouraged to take action via this website.
 

[image credit: Arek Socha via Pixabay]