Hasadri Freeman

Simon & Schuster UK

As a Production Assistant at Simon & Schuster UK, Hasadri has used her Publishing Sustainability Academy apprenticeship to identify practical opportunities to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and strengthen sustainability capability across the organisation.

One of her most significant projects examined the impact of "bad extents" in book production, where specific page counts create avoidable print and paper costs. Through detailed analysis of adult frontlist titles, Hasadri found that a percentage of titles were produced at bad extents, representing a significant inefficient spend in print and paper costs. Her research identified a potential annual saving through targeted adjustments to typesetting and page extent management. The project also equipped teams with evidence to make more informed production decisions and highlighted opportunities to reduce paper use, transport impacts and associated emissions.

Building on this work, Hasadri collaborated with printers, typesetters and sustainability specialists to explore innovative approaches capable of reducing page extents by up to 20%. These partnerships strengthened knowledge sharing between internal teams and suppliers while creating new opportunities for future cost and carbon reductions.

Alongside this, Hasadri benchmarked Simon & Schuster UK's ESG communications against leading publishers, providing valuable insight that helped inform conversations around the organisation's future sustainability strategy. She also played a role in rethinking how resources are managed during the company's office move, developing a proposed archive and library system designed to reduce duplicate file copies, improve accessibility and support more efficient use of shared space.

Together, these projects have not only identified opportunities for cost and resource savings but have also helped strengthen collaboration, support better decision-making and embed sustainability more deeply within day-to-day business operations.

“The apprenticeship has given me extraordinary access to the business and its staff in a way that I wouldn’t have had otherwise in my standard entry level role; I’ve been able to ‘get in the room’ to join key conversations on ESG policy. I’ve also investigated sustainability through the lens of people, conducting independent research into diversity, entry routes, and working practices in our sector. I’d encourage anyone joining to consider the broad umbrella of ‘sustainability’—something you’re passionate about might very well fall under it.”

Matt Dagwell

Hachette UK

As Paper and Environmental Compliance Manager at Hachette UK, Matt has used his Publishing Sustainability Academy apprenticeship to strengthen the publisher’s approach to sustainable sourcing, carbon reporting and environmental governance across a complex global supply chain.

A key focus of Matt’s work has been improving the quality and reliability of carbon data used to support Hachette UK’s Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) commitments. Leading the annual collection of Scope 3 paper, print and transport emissions data, he coordinated information from suppliers across the business’s supply chain with the ambition to gather the most reliable data available. As a result, engagement has increased from print suppliers, and data quality improvements are being achieved year on year. This enables robust reporting and decision-making.

Matt also developed and validated emissions calculations for paper and print production, ensuring supplier data was accurate, consistent and fit for purpose. His analysis identified reporting errors, improved data quality and enabled Hachette UK to more effectively track progress against its carbon reduction targets.

“ I was keen to participate in the Publishing Sustainability Apprenticeship as sustainability and environmental governance are becoming increasingly important to Hachette UK. Having worked in this area for most of my career, I wanted to formally validate my expertise and develop a more robust Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) focused vocabulary. LDN’s approach made this possible, with a course being flexible enough to fit around my existing role and continued support of its coaches. It has given me the confidence and language to apply what I’ve learned every day, strengthen how ESG is approached at Hachette UK.”

Alongside this, Matt led preparations for Hachette UK’s annual FSC audit during a critical licence renewal period. By coordinating colleagues across multiple departments, delivering training and overseeing compliance documentation, he helped achieve a positive audit outcome.

Together, Matt’s projects have strengthened compliance, improved environmental reporting and provided the business with more reliable evidence to support sustainable procurement and long-term carbon reduction.

Rachel Evans

Cambridge University Press & Assessment

As part of World Environment Day, Rachel played a key role in planning and delivering a programme of sustainability activities designed to educate and inspire colleagues. From coordinating logistics and organising plant-based catering to supporting interactive talks and workshops, she played an important role in creating opportunities for colleagues to learn about sustainable practices and connect around shared environmental goals.

Rachel further contributed to organisational learning by presenting at a Sustainability in Content panel, sharing findings from a review of OCR exam content. The session helped connect colleagues across different product groups, increase awareness of sustainability in educational content and strengthen internal networks focused on climate education and sustainable publishing practices.

Through her Publishing Sustainability Academy apprenticeship at Cambridge University Press & Assessment, Rachel has helped embed sustainability into products, events and colleague engagement, creating practical benefits across the organisation.

Building on this work, Rachel reviewed Cambridge OCR’s ExamBuilder platform and identified opportunities to make future digital products more sustainable and accessible. Her recommendations focused on reducing duplicate content, enabling more efficient document layouts and supporting double-sided printing, all of which could reduce document size, lower paper use and improve the user experience.

Collectively, Rachel's projects have strengthened colleague engagement, encouraged greater collaboration across teams and helped embed sustainability into both organisational culture and product development, creating lasting value for the business and its stakeholders.

“The sustainability apprenticeship has been a rewarding experience, giving me the opportunity to make an impact both in my day-to-day role and across the wider organisation. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to work with different teams and explore different areas of sustainability, including digital sustainability, community engagement and climate education. It has been really interesting to see the different ways that sustainability can be related to my role from improving processes and implementing digital sustainability habits to looking at our content itself and how sustainability can be embedded into exam questions.”