Our 2025 Sustainability Report

We LOVE books, but we also happen to be pretty fond of the planet too. We're on a mission to prove these two things go hand in hand - helping you read more while wasting less, one rescued book at a time. So grab a brew, get comfy, and let us walk you through all the good stuff we've been up to. Spoiler: books, planet, happy readers - everyone wins.

Our Mission

To become the world's largest and most sustainable online bookstore, dedicated to helping you read more and waste less. We're committed to delivering the books you love while creating a positive impact on the planet.

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Sustainability

Sustainability is at the heart of what we do

In 2025, we smashed our own records, rehoming more books than ever before. Every book we save from landfill isn't just finding a new reader - it's reducing waste, saving resources, and even cutting carbon emissions that come with printing brand-new books.

Our Impact

31.8M 31.8M

books rehomed in 2025 books rehomed in 2025

That's the equivalent of That's the equivalent of

211,320 211,320

trees saved trees saved

50K 50K

tonnes of CO2e emissions diverted tonnes of CO2e emissions diverted

16K 16K

tonnes of books diverted from waste tonnes of books diverted from waste

130K 130K

brand-new books rescued from being pulped brand-new books rescued from being pulped

Our Carbon Footprint

Reducing our environmental impact isn't just something we talk about - it's something we measure, track, and act on. Our carbon footprint analysis shows us where we need to improve and helps us celebrate the progress we're making along the way.

The Carbon Story of Your Books

Buying preloved emits 46% less CO₂ than buying new

Ever wondered about the environmental impact of your book choices? We did too — so we ran a study to find out! Turns out, buying used books is a lot kinder to the planet. On average, a used book produces 46.6% less carbon than a new one. That’s about 0.752 kg of CO₂ for a used book, compared to 1.409 kg for a new one. So every time you choose preloved, you're making a more climate-friendly choice. Nice one!

Our Roadmap to Net Zero

We've mapped out our road to net zero with commitments that span both the near future and the long haul. The near-term targets are within reach sooner, but laying it all out now means we can hold ourselves accountable every step of the way. Our targets are independently verified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) — the global gold standard for net zero commitments aligned with climate science.

2030 Target
We commit to reducing absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 42% by 2030 from a FY23 baseline year.
2030 Target
We commit to reducing absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions from Purchased Goods and Services, Upstream Logistics and Downstream Logistics 25% by 2030 from a FY23 baseline year.
2050 Target
World of Books commits to reduce absolute scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions by 90% by 2050 from a FY23 base year.

Sustainable Story Award

We launched the Sustainable Story Award to shine a spotlight on authors who are using their words to champion environmental, social, and economic sustainability. We kicked things off on Earth Day 2025 - a fitting moment to celebrate stories that care about our planet. These awards are our way of celebrating the writers who are sparking important conversations about the future of our planet, one story at a time. If books can transport us anywhere, why not toward a more sustainable world?

"Storytelling is a really powerful way to create change, especially when news and data surrounding the climate crisis can be overwhelming. A story has real sticking power when it comes to understanding these issues, so being celebrated by World of Books for championing sustainable writing and telling these stories is a huge honour.”

Eleanor Thom, Winner of the Sustainable Story Award
£25,000
awarded to authors writing about sustainability
100+ entries
in its inaugural year alone
13 shortlisted authors
writing about climate change, biodiversity, social justice and more
80M+
impressions generated through media coverage of the awards
5 industry leader judges
Piers Torday, Amanda Ridout, Sophie Galleymore-Bird, Anna Bond, Shannon Cullen

Championing the circular economy

The circular economy isn't just a buzzword for us - it's literally how we do business. Instead of letting books gather dust on shelves or go to waste when they still have stories left to tell, we make it easy for people to send them to us. You're finished with a book? Great - we'll buy it from you and find it a new home with someone who's been hunting for exactly that read. It's a pretty simple loop: your old books become someone else's new treasures, and nothing goes to waste.

In 2025, we bought millions of books, DVDs, CDs and games directly from customers

19.6M 19.6M

books books

1.6M 1.6M

DVDs DVDs

1.6M 1.6M

CDs CDs

88K 88K

video games video games

Rated Excellent by customers on Trustpilot

4.6 out of 5

We also partner with charities to buy their donated books, clearing shelf space for other goods while helping them raise vital funds

4.9M
items received from charities in 2025
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Charities sell to us so they can clear floor space for new items and raise money for their charity! We received 4.9. million items from charities through SYB Pro and Bulk collections
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£2.9M
raised for UK charities
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This is the amount we paid out to charities who sold us their stock.
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£13.2K
given away in prizes
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We reward our charity partners with cash prizes throughout the year for selling to us.
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4.9M
items received from charities in 2025
Flip icon
Charities sell to us so they can clear floor space for new items and raise money for their charity! We received 4.9. million items from charities through SYB Pro and Bulk collections
Flip icon
£2.9M
raised for UK charities
Flip icon
This is the amount we paid out to charities who sold us their stock.
Flip icon
£13.2K
given away in prizes
Flip icon
We reward our charity partners with cash prizes throughout the year for selling to us.
Flip icon
"The fact that it’s so accessible means every member of the team, volunteers, shop assistants, managers can take part. It’s another stream of income we wouldn’t have otherwise."
Chloe Williams, Cluster Manager, Brandon Trust​

Our People

Our people are the real story behind World of Books

Every book we save, every customer we delight, and every step we take towards a more sustainable future all starts with the brilliant people who turn up every day to make it happen. We're passionate about creating a workplace where everyone feels heard, valued and excited about what we're building together. Because when our team flourishes, so does everything else we care about.

Our Values

One Team

One Team

Protect the Environment

Protect the Environment

Customer Obsessed

Customer Obsessed

Simplify, Move Fast & Deliver Results

Simplify, Move Fast & Deliver Results

"Every one of the millions of books we sell each year reflects the contribution of colleagues across our operations and head office functions. Creating an environment where everyone can belong, do meaningful work and feel connectd to our purpose is essential to delivering sustainable, long-term success"

Caroline Edwards, Chief People Officer
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Our eNPS score jumped 6 points in 2025
We ask our people how likely they'd be to recommend working at World of Books to a friend. In 2025 that score went up by 6 points! This is a reflection of the changes we made based on real feedback from our teams.
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Our workforce is 43% female and 57% male
This is our starting point for thinking about representation and inclusion. As a B Corp, we know it goes beyond gender, and we're always working to collect and share diversity data that's inclusive, respectful and works across all our markets.
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Female leadership doubled from 14% to 28%
Female representation in our executive leadership team has doubled since 2024, and 35% of senior people manager roles across our markets are held by women. We're proud of the progress — and we know there's more to do.
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Gender Pay Gap Mean: 6.4% Median: 0.0%
Fair pay matters to us. Our median gender pay gap is 0%, meaning men and women at the same level earn the same. We're working to close the mean gap too, and we're doing it the right way: by building balanced leadership at every level.
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Our average tenure is 3.7 years
We want World of Books to be a place where people want to stay and grow. Our average employee tenure is 3.7 years, and 40% of our people have been with us for more than two years. That kind of continuity means deeper expertise, stronger teams and better outcomes for everyone.
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50,000 learning hours
This year, 53% of our people completed role-relevant training, adding up to 50,000 hours of learning across the business. Whether it's sharpening skills or building new ones, we're investing in our people's growth every day.
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92% of people managers completed core training
Great managers make a huge difference. That's why we're committed to giving every people manager the tools they need to lead well. This year, 92% completed our core management training — building the kind of leadership culture we're proud of.

Our Communities

World of Books Foundation

We're proud of The World of Books Foundation, our independent charity that puts money where our mission is. We've been supporting some truly amazing organisations championing literacy and circular economy initiatives. So far, that's 20 charities across the UK and US and £177k in funding to help them make real change.

£0
total funding to charities
20
charities supported so far
£0
total funding to charities
20
charities supported so far
"[The World of Books Foundation] has been instrumental in encouraging children to take a greater interest in reading, giving them a sense of pride and achievement as each reading challenge is completed."
Elson Community Library and Hub
"Through the World of Books Foundation’s generous funding, our young learners are steadily growing into confident communicators and enthusiastic readers, getting ready to start school with the tools they need to thrive."
Elizabeth Foundation
"The World of Books Foundation’s support is helping us bring the power and pleasure of poetry to new audiences, opening doors to literacy, self-expression, and a renewed sense of possibility."
Forward Arts Foundation
"[The World of Books Foundation] has been instrumental in encouraging children to take a greater interest in reading, giving them a sense of pride and achievement as each reading challenge is completed."
Elson Community Library and Hub
"Through the World of Books Foundation’s generous funding, our young learners are steadily growing into confident communicators and enthusiastic readers, getting ready to start school with the tools they need to thrive."
Elizabeth Foundation
"The World of Books Foundation’s support is helping us bring the power and pleasure of poetry to new audiences, opening doors to literacy, self-expression, and a renewed sense of possibility."
Forward Arts Foundation

Donations

Reading opens doors, sparks imagination, and changes lives. We're on a mission to make sure everyone has access to that magic, which is why we work with amazing charities and causes around the world. Through our donations programme, we've shared 1.2 million books with communities that need them.
Cumulative book donations by year
"Several parents have said that the Own Books Library is the reason that their children have developed a love of reading. Our reading progression score between KS1 and KS2 put us in the top 10% of schools for 2021-22 and a number of the children in that class developed their love of reading from having access to high-quality texts provided by Own Books. Thank you World of Books for all that you do to help Own Books – we love you for it and so do all our schools!"
Alison, Own Books

Looking Forward

Net Zero Targets

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We finalised our carbon reduction targets this year — and now we're designing and publishing a roadmap to help us hit net zero!

B Corp Recertification

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We're proud to be a B Corp and with updated criteria this year, we're currently working through the process to recertify by September 2026!
JEDI Action Plan: As part of our B Corp recertification, we're composing and committing to a Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) action plan.
Carbon conscious procurement: We're committed to making sustainability front of mind in how we buy and source — and we'll be shaping what that looks like in the year ahead.

Carbon Reporting

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Behind the scenes, we're continuing to sharpen how we measure and report our carbon footprint so we can be as accurate and transparent as possible.

Materiality Assessment

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We're deepening our understanding of what matters most to our people, customers and stakeholders through research and conversation, so we can keep focusing our energy in the right places.