2017 Sustainability Reports

THE CONTRIBUTION WE MAKE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2017 INTRODUCTION ABOUT INFORMA WHO WE ARE WHAT WE DO Informa is a leading Business The Group serves commercial, Intelligence, Academic Publishing, professional and academic Knowledge and Events business communities by helping them operating in the Knowledge and connect and learn, and by creating Information Economy. and providing access to content and intelligence that helps people and //We connect people businesses work smarter and make with the networks and better decisions faster. knowledge they need to be successful// HIGHLIGHTS OUR DIVISIONS ACADEMIC PUBLISHING Publishes high quality scholarly research and reference-led content £1,758m £546m 165 for academic communities. Group revenue operating profit countries sold into BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE Provides specialist data-driven insight and intelligence, plus consultancy and marketing services. GLOBAL EXHIBITIONS Organises major, branded, transaction-oriented exhibitions 7,100 3.9m 115,000 for international communities. KNOWLEDGE & NETWORKING books published articles online book titles Creates and connects communities in 2017 through content-driven events, training and digital platforms. GLOBAL SUPPORT Provides business services to the four operating divisions 38,000+ 2m+ c200 and leadership for the Group. product people visit our exhibitions and subscribers events annually 1,200 events 7,500+500+ 74% 56% colleagues colleague female engagement For more information, level see our Annual Report. informa.com/investors/annual-reports/ INTRODUCTION CONTENTS OVERVIEW 2 / INTRODUCTION 4 / UN SUSTAINABLE 36 / WHAT’S NEXT? DEVELOPMENT GOALS Group Chief Executive Stephen A. Carter How the UN’s Sustainable Development A look to the future and what’s next talks to Head of Sustainability Ben Wielgus Goals complement and drive our ways for sustainability at Informa about why sustainability is central to of working Informa’s success FOUR PILLARS 5 / OUR CONTENT 14 / OUR COMMUNITIES How we connect people with the knowledge How we work deep in markets and industries they need to create positive change to help communities meet their aims 1 2 4 3 29 / OUR ENVIRONMENT 22 / OUR COLLEAGUES How we work to use resources more How we’re supporting the people efficiently and reduce our footprint behind Informa’s success THE CONTRIBUTION WE MAKE 1 INTRODUCTION WHAT SUSTAINABILITY MEANS FOR Ben: When we first met in late 2015, you talked about wanting sustainability to be a competitive differentiator for Informa. How does that fit in with the now completed INFORMA Growth Acceleration Plan (GAP) and our future plans? Stephen: When you’re running a business, you’re trying to do two things simultaneously: to deliver what’s needed for today and have an eye on tomorrow. GAP was largely about A conversation demonstrating capability, while putting in place the capacity to deliver things that between Ben Wielgus, will be much more important tomorrow. Head of Sustainability, Sustainability was one of those things. It’s a key part of finding the balance between and Stephen A. Carter, running what we’ve got and building a Group Chief Executive forward-looking enterprise. And now, if our offer to buy UBM is successful, we’ll be nearly three times Ben Wielgus the size we were a few years ago. On Head of Sustainability a fundamental level, this will give us a footprint that brings more options for how we invest and engage in terms of our colleagues, customers, communities and the environment. Each of these options has consequences; and with this footprint comes obligation and responsibility in the immediate and longer term. Ben: This ties in, I think, with how “sustainability” is evolving in Informa. The legacy view of corporate social responsibility was giving money to charity, recycling, painting fences and so on. This is all good stuff in the short term. But people are starting to see true sustainability more in terms of being a purposeful business – as the difference we make in the marketplace. In our case, the real difference we make is through our content and for our communities. Stephen A. Carter Group Chief Executive 2 INFORMA PLC SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2017 So maybe we should be using the word Ben: I think the UN’s Sustainable “purpose” in the context of sustainability – Development Goals help this in some //W hat we’re something that can catalyse viable, ways. They are, after all, the ultimate in valuable change for our customers? aggregation. They’re a very important trying to create and powerful agenda. Stephen: One of my favourite sayings is that “language is important because Stephen: They certainly are. You know, here is shared words have meaning”. In the near future, I’m by nature an optimist. I believe to in our boardroom – and every boardroom my bootstraps that responsible business ownership – people will, as well as being fluent in is a powerful agent of positive change. the language of finance, have to be fluent It employs people; it creates jobs; it and ambition in the language of sustainability. In other creates knowledge; it’s efficient. words, in the idea of making a contribution Around 70% of our revenue is going back alongside of value to different stakeholders. Our into our content and colleagues. And the challenge at Informa is to get beyond vast majority of that goes on our people, a sense of and beneath the word “sustainability” – which is essential. GAP helped us reinvest and “purpose” is certainly more powerful. in the business to make us better. But enablement Also, content, colleagues, community, the real question for us is: are we also consequence, the multiplier effect – things investing enough in our communities? and freedom// like this mean something because they’re How good are we at measuring real practical and real. They inspire people customer satisfaction or irritation – or Ben: And the more we can be and get them feeling that they can make how we’ve helped them create progress, ourselves at work, the more genuine a difference. These are the things that however they define it? Over the next five the connections we create with our sustainability means for us. years, this is where we need to invest. customers, suppliers and others. So how can we create a sense of Ben: Yes, and it’s why we named this Ben: From talking to people around the community inside Informa that will help report The Contribution We Make. business, everyone seems to want to us make a real difference outside? We know that if we can create value, be on the winning team – the team people will come back to us – whether that’s growing, the team that’s bringing Stephen: I think partly by making an as colleagues or as customers or as other businesses into the Group. But environment where people create promoters of what Informa does out they also want to be on the team that partnerships with colleagues and there in the world. We have so many makes a difference. customers – and feel they’re coming colleagues who are proud of the to work to help their friends. If we can Stephen: I think they want both. Essentially, contribution they make to solving big create meaning in people’s lives and help we all want a sense of natural progress. problems that it’s always a pleasure to make sure they love what they do, we’re But we also want to feel we’ve done share their stories and connect people essentially creating human connections. things well. who have similar aims. This is at the heart of Informa. Stephen: Connections are, of course, key – We also have to encourage a real and people here are starting to connect sense of ownership in our colleagues with and understand the multiplier effect for keeping the company sustainable of what we do. It’s not just about having //People are after they’ve gone. Having a shared 30,000 attendees at a certain show, it’s purpose here at Informa is vital to our about those 30,000 people being able starting to see long-term sustainability. So what we’re to achieve their aims as a result, and trying to create here is shared ownership then this having a positive knock-on true sustainability and ambition alongside a sense of effect on others in their industry and enablement and freedom. Sustainability, community. It helps them solve problems more in terms as we’re defining it, will most certainly for their industry and others. Every pound help us do this, which is why it’s so we make is because people are making of being a central to the health of our business. personal choices to buy our products and services. Our success is built on purposeful staying useful to people. Stephen A. Carter Group Chief Executive On an individual level – for our colleagues business – as and customers – working in such specialist, deep communities is fantastically rewarding. the difference Ben Wielgus But it’s harder to pull together our micro- Head of Sustainability contributions in millions of different places we make in the in a coherent narrative. marketplace// THE CONTRIBUTION WE MAKE 3 INTRODUCTION THE VALUE OF THE UN’S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS Our primary contribution through our operations Our secondary contribution ON RIBUTI through our operations ONT Y C AR IM PR PS ERSHI NO RTN PA GOALS POVER THE TY CE OR TI F Z S ER JU NG H O , O UN E R S G C T N E A S IO R E D T P U N IT A T S G N A O I N O D D W N H O E E D L E L A F N B L I A E T L L I H N G P 1 R 7 I 1 M 2 A 6 E R Q Y W 1 D U C O U O A N L R C 3 T E E L A R 5 I B T I T T B A 1 I U E Y O T F W I I N O N L 4 4 S 1 N E O I C T O U S N C 1 B 5 E I D A R I L R A C E T T R 3 I I Y N M D T L O C

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