Springer Nature is a global publisher of some of the world’s most influential journals in the fields of science, technology, medicine, humanities and social sciences.
The business had a long-standing responsible business programme and recognised that this needed to be refreshed as societal impacts and expectations evolved.
The client wanted to ensure that their sustainability and responsible business strategy delivered maximum value and credibility, engendering trust from markets, employees, research network and wider readership. To do this, they sought a trusted partner to help them prioritise focus areas, develop robust targets and roadmaps, and strengthen their governance of responsible business for the next three years.
Sancroft used our materiality expertise to sense-check existing sustainability priorities against Springer Nature’s business strategy, changing stakeholder expectations and emerging risks, challenges and opportunities.
We synthesised strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities associated with key sustainability topics based on desk research, competitor analysis and interviews with colleagues from across the business. We then engaged management across the group on the findings to agree on key gaps and opportunities.
We worked with the Steering Group to set priorities and clear milestones, to determine necessary inputs and discuss key engagement and communication activities.
We also reviewed and advised on the existing governance arrangements and available technology and human resources to ensure the successful delivery of the set ambition.
