Reporting guidelines – 2008 environmental data

Coverage

In 2008, we reported on an additional 22% of our locations. We established a database of all properties within the Reed Elsevier divisions, which has allowed us to calculate and report on 100% of our locations for the first time.

Criteria for inclusion

  • Owned properties
  • Data centres
  • Warehouses and distribution centres
  • Print works and manufacturing sites
  • All UK sites
  • Leased properties greater than 1,765 sq m (19,000 sq ft)

It is not practical to collect data from all locations, particularly smaller leased properties where we only have a small number of employees. To calculate the impact of locations not included in the survey, we identified the use type for each location (such as office, storage, etc.) and used an average calculated from the data we collected to estimate missing amounts.

Collection

We collect energy, water and waste data through our Environmental Workbook, as part of our annual Group Environmental Survey (GES), developed with advice from RE Internal Audit. The Workbook features automatic conversion of local units and currencies, graphic representation of results and comparable data. Standardised returns make checking (and assuring) data easier. The resulting 2008 data was consolidated through the RE Hyperion Financial Management System with assistance from RE Accounting Services. RE purchasing departments provided information on paper and our travel supplier provided data on transport. All environmental data was subject to internal validation and substantive testing, before being reviewed and assured by Ernst & Young LLP.

Restating

In order to make previous years’ data comparable with 2008, where our coverage has increased considerably, we have restated total figures for each year based on the reported variance between the data we were able to collect at the time (e.g., a reported 5% increase in energy usage between 2006 and 2007 remains, but the numbers have increased to represent 100% of our operations).

Normalisation

We believe it is important to set and achieve absolute targets if we are to meet our environmental obligations as a large multinational company. We include normalised results based on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to show our performance against changes in our business such as acquisitions and divestments, organic growth and outsourcing.