It’s been said that the US book industry alone is responsible for the felling of 30 million trees annually. By their nature ebooks have environmental benefits over printed books. The carbon footprint of an ebook ecosystem is necessarily much smaller than printed books.

Ebooks don’t need to be shipped around the world or stored in warehouses. So it’s fair to say that the more successful we are, the better for the environment.

eBooks.com differs from many other global ebook retailers in that we do not lock our members into using a specific, specially-manufactured plastic device.

Our books are designed to be read on a device you already own

Corporate travel is kept to a minimum.

We have a company-wide paperless policy. All of our accounting, legal and other documents are stored digitally. Most of them never saw the light of day as a paper artifact.

Our new office, located next to a public transport hub, has superb environmental credentials, with the latest insulation and power-saving features.

Optimising Tech to Reduce Carbon Emissions

2025 Environmental Update

In July 2025 eBooks.com transitioned from a traditional data centre to Amazon Web Services with the aim of reducing our company’s carbon footprint. We selected AWS because of its commitment to achieving net zero and its extensive use of renewable energy.

• Renewable Energy:

  AWS has committed to powering its global infrastructure with 100% renewable energy by 2025. They are actively investing in renewable energy projects like wind and solar farms to achieve this. 

   
• Efficient Data Centers:

  AWS data centers are designed for energy efficiency, utilizing technologies like advanced cooling systems and optimized hardware. 

   
• Carbon Footprint Tool:

  AWS provides a Customer Carbon Footprint Tool that allows us to track our carbon emissions associated with their AWS usage. 

   
• Commitment to Net-Zero:

  AWS is working towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. 

2020 Environmental Update

Progress

In the fiscal year to June 30, 2020 we:

• Reduced travel by half (helped by COVID lockdowns).
• All recyclable office waste is now recycled.
• Replaced our coffee system with one whose pods are recycled and the grounds are composted.
• Traditional paper correspondence is now a trickle.

2019 Environmental Update

Progress

In the fiscal year to June 30, 2019 we:

• Reduced corporate travel air miles by a further 8 per cent compared to the 2018 year.
• Carbon-offset all flights.
• Became almost 100% paperless after successfully pushing incoming business correspondence and reporting online.
• Replaced all remaining desktop computers with laptops (using up to 80% less energy per unit).
• Recycled all end-of-life electronics.

Goals

• Provide more comprehensive in-office recycling capabilities
• Find an alternative to those little plastic coffee pods that persist in landfill for a million years.

See also: eBooks.com’s Environmental Policy