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Paper Purchasing Guidelines

This statement sets out the overall approach taken by Pearson with regard to the purchase of paper for use in our books, magazines and newspapers. It was developed as part of our response to the commitments we made as a founding signatory to the UN Global Compact.

Our operating businesses have responsibility for turning our standards into practice.

Our Approach:

Pearson is a media company that educates, entertains and informs. Our primary aim is to publish our products in ways that suit our customers helping make the ideas and stories that form our content both useful and special.

As part of this aim, Pearson has invested in newer technologies to complement our traditional paper based products. We expect "paperless" methods of publishing to continue to grow.

We also expect that paper will continue as the basic material on which our business will depend. Our Environmental Policy commits us to improve our understanding of the impact our day-to-day operations have on the world around us, and to a responsibility to manage and measure this impact.

Paper is manufactured from a natural resource and its use has been identified as a key area of environmental impact for the company. Paper is supplied to us directly by manufacturers, from paper merchants and through our printers.

We are concerned to ensure that we play a responsible role as a major purchaser of paper. This means communicating to our suppliers our position with regard to the responsible use of natural resources. In order to achieve this, we have developed the following policy standards for the purchase of paper used by our businesses:

• We require our suppliers to comply with environmental laws and regulations applicable in their countries of operation.
• Where practical, and viable, we favour using paper products with recycled content.
• We commit to ensure that our paper suppliers understand our interest in the development of commercially viable new grades of book paper that include recycled fibres.
• We work with our suppliers to ensure that the paper we purchase comes from certified, well managed forests. We encourage and expect improvement and promote credible independent certification.
• We do not approve of and reject illegal logging of old growth forests. In cases of dispute, we would consult stakeholders on an appropriate response and as a minimum would expect our suppliers to engage with the appropriate regulatory bodies and NGOs.
• Each of the operating companies has senior people responsible for managing the supply of their paper. A senior executive at Pearson has responsibility for ensuring that our environmental guidelines are followed by our businesses.
• We encourage our businesses to include a statement that reflects these commitments in our paper based products.
• We regularly review the policies and performance of our suppliers against these standards and encourage improvement wherever possible.
• Our standards for paper purchase, together with a report on our performance will be available in 2004 through our website.

Pearson has become a member of the WWF UK Forest and Trade Network to help us work with our suppliers effectively on meeting our environmental responsibilities as a major paper purchaser. WWF UK provides us with an independent and credible source of information, practical advice and guidance on responsible paper sourcing issues.

If you have any questions on the environmental aspects of Pearson?s paper purchasing guidelines, please contact:

Alan Miller
Pearson plc
80 Strand,
London
WC2R 0RL
Email: alan.miller@pearson.com
Telephone: 020 7010 2221

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