Which is greener, online or print?

Sonja Klug, Cedar's environmental manager

At Cedar we he have more and more online projects, from apps to video to social media, which is, of course, hugely exciting.

As technology changes and opens up different opportunities, so does our work, which of course throws up the question of how this impacts on the environment, as environmental issues are on top of everybody's agendas.

A Swedish study concluded that reading a printed newspaper has about the same impact on the environment as reading an online newspaper at home for 30 minutes, taking into account the environmental impact of the production of the paper versus the life cycle of the computer and the energy consumed. So if you're just going to spend 20 minutes skipping through the news, online comes out top, but if you're perusing the paper for more then 30 minutes, buying the print edition is more environmentally friendly.

There have also been many studies on the environmental impact of tablets versus print, which vary quite a lot. One study states that you need to read 40,000 pages on the iPad (of course includes the pages you skip) for it to have an equal impact to buying the equivalent amount of magazines and books in print. Another study on the Kindle states that the Kindle is better for the environment if its owner buys more than 30 books during its lifetime.

The equation is never that straightforward though. For example much of the verdict depends on how the energy was won, which varies from country to country and how much weight is given to different issues, such as CO2 versus toxins or use of resources. Furthermore manufacturers often don't provide full manufacturing details, which makes some of these studies questionable.

However, if used a lot, there seems to be a bias towards tablets in terms of environmental friendliness. But then a lot more could be done to make magazines more eco friendly — for example using recycled paper for printing, which slashes their carbon footprint.

Regardless of the chosen medium of publishing, it will always have some impact on the environment. For a responsible and sustainable business, looking to the future it is a matter of keeping an eye on new developments and their ecological impact and make green choices where possible, including raising awareness about the issues among suppliers, clients and readers.