IPC Media - Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Responsibility (CR) at IPC focuses mainly on our impact on, and interaction with, the community, particularly in Southwark, and on relevant environmental issues. We highly value the input and involvement of our employees, including volunteering, supporting our environmental activities and participating in fundraising activities.

In support of our CR programme, IPC is a member of The Media Trust, The Media CSR Forum, Heart of the City and www.betterbankside.co.uk">Better Bankside.

IPC MEDIA SUPPORTS RACE ONLINE 2012

Race Online 2012 is a Government-supported organisation which is challenging people and organisations in every sector and every corner of our country to work together to inspire, encourage and support as many people as possible to get online by the end of the Olympic year.

A Message From Race Online 2012
“Race Online 2012 has one proposed mission – to create life enhancing opportunities for the 10 million adults in the UK who have never been online. There is both a moral and economic imperative for the wider community to take the issue of digital inclusion much more seriously. It's also essential to business that the UK is near 100% online as this will create efficiency savings, attract investment, open opportunities and improve work force skills.

Race Online 2012 wants any organisation of any size to get involved and help tackle the issue. From encouraging business partners to sign up, to teaching friends and family to get online, or by donating old IT equipment locally - there are opportunities for all businesses to make a difference. It's simple to sign up and it only takes five minutes to register.

We know that many of you are already leading innovative, inspirational and educational Digital Inclusion projects of your own – this automatically entitles you to become a partner of Race Online 2012 and access the online Race Online 2012 partner toolkits which include a Race Online 2012 certificate, online media and communication materials to help you promote your initiatives and spread the word, plus access to the Race Online 2012 web news feed offering 24/7 digital inclusion news updates.

Please click on this link http://raceonline2012.org/get-involved to become an official Race Online 2012 partner, where you can explain what your organisation is doing or can do to help make the UK one of the first countries in the world to establish a fully online, internet enabled society.”

IPC Media's Schools' Design Programme

Launched in 2005, the IPC Media Schools' Design Programme is an innovative work-related learning programme that opens up the world of magazine design to secondary school students in Southwark.
The programme is delivered in partnership with A New Direction - a charity that works with schools and young people to develop creative approaches to teaching and learning. It offers students the opportunity to complete 20 hours of design training from expert tutors at the London College of Communication, followed by a week-long work simulation. It culminates in a week's work experience at IPC in the summer, where students are hosted by our designers and have the chance to produce a piece of work that may be published in one of our magazines.

The objectives of the Programme are to:
• Encourage secondary school students to view magazine design as an exciting career option
• Increase skills development in graphic design
• Create opportunities to review students for longer work placements and potential future employment
• Encourage employee participation through involving IPC designers in delivering the programme

CHARITY OF THE YEAR 2010 – SPECAL

Following a company-wide vote in the autumn of 2010, IPC chose SPECAL (Specialised Care for Alzheimer's) as its charity of the year for 2011. SPECAL is a charitable organisation with an innovative approach to the care of people with dementia, offering a different and successful way of managing the disease for both the person with dementia and their family. SPECAL provides a range of courses, services, advice and information to promote the lifelong wellbeing of people with dementia. Core to these courses is the concept of the SPECAL Photograph Album, a unique model it uses to explain why and how lifelong wellbeing can be achieved. It uses the analogy of a photograph album to demonstrate how memory works, what happens as we grow older and the specific change that occurs with dementia.

Company-wide fundraising activities on behalf of SPECAL are planned and organised by IPC's Charity Committee. Activities so far have included Movie Nights, cake sales, raffles, an Oscars sweepstake and a 'Photo Opportunity' event at our VolksWorld Show.

And it's not just about the fundraising. A team from IPC Digital is helping to develop the charity's website while our editorial development director is reviewing SPECAL's branding. A number of our brands have also offered to donate free advertising space in their magazines or on their website.

Support for other charities

We provide ad hoc support to other charities, either via a financial or an in-kind donation. Support is typically given to organisations that are local to our offices and whose work is aligned with our key community priorities (young people, arts, education and literacy). Some IPC brands choose one or more charities to support on an ongoing basis. Among many examples, woman&home has raised more than £2 million in recent years for Breast Cancer Care, primarily through events involving its readers and website users.

Better Bankside

Better Bankside was formed in 2004 as a pilot 'Business Improvement District' in the area between Blackfriars Bridge and London Bridge. We contribute financially to Better Bankside and are pleased to have the opportunity to influence the improvement of the area for the benefit of residents and businesses.

IPC is represented on Better Bankside's Corporate Responsibility Group, which aims to facilitate businesses' involvement with the local community by supporting education, employment and environmental initiatives. This includes supporting (financially and in kind) several local charities and projects that work with young people and their families, promoting a culture of volunteering (in particular by publishing regular bulletins of volunteering opportunities) and facilitating workplace exposure visits for local students. The group also promotes local employment and supports local businesses to reduce their environmental impact, as well as taking part in various other activities designed to promote dialogue and partnership between the various communities in the Bankside area.

For further information on Better Bankside, please visit www.betterbankside.co.uk

Through the production of our magazines and development of our websites, as well as through our daily tasks in the office, we recognize that IPC Media has an impact on our environment. We are committed to continual improvement in our environmental impact, to minimising our adverse environmental effects and to ensuring the company's sustainability.

IPC has an Environment Committee that is responsible for working towards our environmental goals. It is chaired by Charlie Meredith, MD of IPC Advertising, and comprises representatives from IT, Facilities, Production, Publishing, Distribution, Communications and the Staff Council.

Buildings & Employees

Environmental efficiency was a high priority in planning our move to the Blue Fin Building in 2007, and the building achieved a “very good” score on the British environmental BREEAM carbon emissions rating. However, we believed we could do more and, in 2009 we launched 'Green Fin', with the aim of reducing our environmental impact by making small, straightforward changes to the way we work.

Green Fin focuses mainly on recycling, saving paper and saving energy, and specific actions have included: adjusting the operating hours of the building's lighting; switching off most lights overnight; aligning air conditioning times with working practices in each area; and running new software that switches off PCs and puts Macs to sleep overnight. We have also asked employees to help by disposing of rubbish in the correct bins; switching off lights, chargers and other electronic items when not in use; printing double sided and thinking before they print. Champions were appointed across the company to help embed the changes and to encourage staff to consider the impact of their behaviour on the environment. All these initiatives were reinforced in 2010 with our 'We're Better Off' campaign, and resulted in an energy reduction of more than 10% last year. We've set targets for further improvement in 2011 (see our Environment Policy for details).

Supply Chain

IPC's aim is to purchase paper only from manufacturers who have adopted sustainable forestry practices and whose timber sourcing and paper production conform to international standards such as the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC). Current certification levels for paper purchased by IPC stand at above 85% and we aim to increase this year-on-year.

IPC works with its wholesale partners to ensure that 100% of all unsold magazines are recycled. IPC's magazines form an important part of the recovery of fibre for the recycled paper industry, with the majority recycled into newsprint at two mills in the UK. IPC's distribution company, Marketforce, has also made significant progress in reducing unsold magazine copies through working with its wholesalers to look at patterns of supply and demand, which has resulted in several million copies being taken out of circulation in recent years.

IPC's magazines regularly use polypropylene bags to carry supplements and gifts. Plastic bags are, of course, additional packaging and mean extra material going to the UK's already pressured landfill sites. To combat this problem IPC began using oxo-biodegradable plastic bags in 2006, which are produced using a technology developed by Symphony Environmental called d2w®. This enables the plastic to break down by process of oxidation at a relatively quick rate, thus reducing the landfill burden.

Carbon Footprint

At the end of 2007, IPC took the decision to measure the carbon footprint of some of our magazines, in order to better understand the environmental impacts of the magazine-making process and, ultimately, to consider establishing reduction targets. This decision coincided with the PPA's commissioning of a consultant to assist the industry as a whole with this issue and, since then, IPC has taken a leading role within the PPA's Environment Committee on working towards this goal.

The original aim was to develop a 'carbon calculator' to enable publishers to calculate the carbon footprint of individual magazines. Throughout 2008 we were involved in refining the calculator's capabilities using four IPC titles as testers, which were selected for their diversity of paper type and source; print process; circulation volume and method; and other factors, and to provide as representative a sample as possible of our large portfolio.

During 2009 and 2010, once the calculator had been launched, we identified further titles to measure to increase our data bank and to enable us to draw comparisons. We've used the calculator in two main ways so far – firstly, to compare groups of titles that are similar in terms of paper type, print process, etc and, secondly, to measure the same title over a period of time to see how it changed. Throughout the process, we have focused on understanding the relative contribution of each supply chain stage to the overall footprint, and the results have also allowed us to begin to estimate a 'typical' carbon footprint for a given group of titles.

During 2010, a second version of the calculator was developed, incorporating several improvements and enabling more accurate measurement. This was launched in early 2011, and IPC's next priority is to measure the original titles again, followed by further titles, with a view to measuring our entire portfolio over the next few months. The overall aims are to continue to develop our understanding of where the biggest impacts lie, to identify any titles whose carbon footprint is significantly larger than other similar titles, and to determine where we can exert a positive environmental influence.

The Environment and our Magazines

In response to increased interest among our consumers in 'green' issues, a growing number of IPC brands now regularly feature relevant environmental stories. For example, green tips and organic produce ideas are included in some of the women's weeklies, and several of our homes titles regularly promote eco products and green ideas for the home.

Industry Initiatives

IPC is represented on the PPA's Environmental, Carbon Footprint and Production & Technology Committees, where we play an active role in the environmental debate in the UK. As part of the PPA Production and Technology Committee, IPC plays an important role in working with the paper and print industry to seek out technologies that will further reduce greenhouse emissions.

IPC is also a signatory company to the PPA/Defra Voluntary Producer Responsibility Agreement, which outlines commitments to increase the recycling rates for post-consumer magazines. As a result, PPA members have agreed to carry the Recycle Now logo in their magazines. In 2006, IPC issued best practice guidelines to all its magazines indicating the minimum size and ideal position of the logo, and we have now achieved 100% compliance with regard to the display of the logo.

IPC's Employee Volunteering Policy

IPC's Employee Volunteering Policy enables employees to take up to two days' paid time per year to take part in voluntary activities in the community.

Many IPC employees choose to use one of their volunteering days to take part in the annual Time Warner Volunteers' Day, working alongside employees from our sister companies in London. The day provides an opportunity to help out at a local community organisation; for example, lending physical labour to gardening projects, painting murals at a playground or running a children's activity day.

Through IPC's membership of the Media Trust, an increasing number of employees are also using their unique skills to assist a charity. This may take the form of advising a charity on its marketing strategy, assisting them in devising a communications campaign or helping to develop a website, and the employee's involvement may consist of a one-off meeting or an ongoing relationship over a number of months. In addition, two employees currently serve on the Media Trust Youth Advisory Board.

Other current volunteering activities include mentoring, serving as trustees on charity boards and taking part in 'team challenge' events.

Payroll Giving

IPC supports its employees in donating to charity via its payroll giving scheme, 'Giving, etc'. Employees can either make regular contributions direct to their favourite charity or charities, or open a charity account that enables them to donate to any charity whenever they want.