A bold plan
As a leading UK children's publisher, Egmont took a bold decision almost three years ago to commit to ethical business practices to ensure that the delight that we strive to bring reader of our books is not compromised by damage done to the environment.

It was an enormous undertaking that has taken three years to approach completion and total overhaul of our manufacturing process.

Making the grade
We started by devising a grading system for all the paper we used - this starts at category 1 (paper from illegal or unenvironmental sources) and goes right up to category 5 (approved by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC)). We worked very closely with a team of environmental consultants to ensure the accuracy and practicality of our grading system. We also consulted Greenpeace and modeled our grades on the existing WWF system.

We then had to set about the lengthy task of grading every single paper that makes up every book on our 5 category grading system. This required a lot of help from our suppliers throughout the world and of course the hard work and commitment of everyone at Egmont.

Where we are now
We now know where every single tree comes from that goes into every paper that makes up every book. It's a huge accomplishment.

All the paper used in all Egmont's books now complies with our grading system and meets the requirement for grade 3 and up. This means we know that the trees used to make our paper are not from illegally sources and are not species which are endangered.

How responsible is responsible?
We have discovered that there are many levels of responsibility. All our paper is currently graded at grade 3 and up. We are so proud of this achievement and it is now our intention to keep improving our paper sources until, one day, all our paper is graded 5 and FSC certified (the best of the best!).

We are launching our ethical publishing initiative with a brand new edition of Michael Morpurgo's best-selling novel, Kensuke's Kingdom. This is the first book in the country ever to have both the text and jacket paper approved by the FSC. It's very exciting! We also want to reassure you that aside from the launch of this book, this is not simply a case of a one product wonder but that we are working behind the scenes on every single sheet of paper that we purchase to ensure it comes from sustainable sources.

Ambiguous claims
You may have seen some paper based products which make the following claim: 'For every tree cut down in the making of this paper two more have been planted'.

We now know that this is not always good news. It certainly isn't good for the environment if a tree in an ancient forest is cut down and replaced by inappropriate fast-growing timber that destroys the habitat of the indigenous people.

Egmont will not make claims about the responsiblity of our paper unless we reach the demanding standards of FSC. Through constant learning from our environmental consultants and working in partnership with our suppliers we will continuously improve the true responsiblity of the paper in the products that you buy.