Driving sustainable growth through quality and creativity: Nosy Crow

Nosy Crow is a small but growing children’s book publisher. The company’s continued success depends on integrating rising sustainability standards into its core strategy, alongside a commitment to product quality and cost management.

Impact at a glance

• Sourced a lighter weight material for its board book production (without compromising the end-product’s integrity) thereby cutting manufacturing costs by £230,000 a year, and carbon footprint by 100 tonnes CO2e/year
• Worked with its suppliers to ensure the paper/board used in its book production has full sustainability certification, meeting the requirements of its biggest customers

The business

Nosy Crow is an independent, award-winning UK children’s publisher, founded in 2011. It is known for its high-quality, durable books, and educational content.

Sector: Manufacturing (book publishing)

Location: London

Size: 50-100 employees

Why they took action

The company has always had a strong sustainability ethos and this aligned well with the needs of its major customers including the National Trust, which are increasingly expecting higher, more transparent sustainability standards, driven either by regulation or company policy. At the same time operational costs always need to be kept under control in a competitive market. Subsequently, the company prioritised sustainability initiatives that offered clear commercial advantages.

What they did

No cost to low cost actions

• Measured their carbon footprint to create a baseline for emissions reduction and help prioritise action.
• Accessed industry forums and networks (such as the Independent Publishers Guild Sustainability Action Group) as a cost-effective way of getting ideas for how to combine sustainability with business success.
• Sourced 10% lighter board for book manufacturing, with the aim of reducing transport costs and carbon emissions.

Medium cost actions

• Ensured their books were compliant with the EU Deforestation Regulation requirements, which required ensuring full traceability of paper/board supplies and proof they had not contributed to forest loss.

What difference it made

The switch to lighter board reduced manufacturing costs by approx. £230,000 a year, and reduced supply chain carbon emissions by 100 tonnes CO2e per year.

The attainment of EU sustainability standards incurred costs through the detailed supply chain tracking and data creation required, but this was more than outweighed by enabling Nosy Crow to continue selling directly and indirectly into the EU market as well as meeting the rising sustainability expectations of many UK customers.

How were the changes funded?

The switch to lighter board had no up-front costs. Compliance with EU sustainability standards for books entailed moderate costs, which were met from the company’s own resources.

Lessons for other businesses

Nosy Crow shows the value of prioritising where a single change (switching to lighter board) to a part of the manufacturing process can reduce carbon emissions and operating costs at the same time. The company also has a clear understanding of how developing regulatory and customer requirements in its biggest markets align with its determination to operate in an environmentally sustainable way. Lastly, it makes extensive use of industry forums and networks as a cost-effective way to get practical information and ideas on using sustainability to support the business.