Environmental Sustainability

Protecting the environment and minimizing our impact

Combating Climate Change

Ziff Davis is committed to operating sustainably and limiting any damaging effects our operations may have on climate change, even as our direct operations generate relatively insubstantial greenhouse gas emissions. Our actions include:

  • Receiving validation of our science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets from the Science Based Targets initiative
  • Performing an annual GHG inventory process using an independent third-party expert to measure our company-wide energy usage (including energy derived from renewable sources) and GHG emissions
  • Continuing our ongoing efforts to reduce the emissions generated in our operations to become more efficient and ensure our services are delivered sustainably
  • Integrating environmental risk evaluation criteria, including climate change, into the due diligence process for mergers and acquisitions
  • Extending our Climate Change and Environmental policies to our vendors, whom we expect to aspire to our company’s own standards
2023 ESG Report

2023 ESG Report

Ziff Davis’ 2023 ESG Report includes findings and actions relating to our commitment to environmental and business sustainability, including findings from our most recent third-party verified greenhouse gas inventory.

READ THE REPORT

ESG Report Archive

ESG Reports: 2023 | 2022 | 2021

Awarded for “Sustainability Leadership”

Awarded for “Sustainability Leadership”

Ziff Davis is proud to be a winner in the “Sustainability Leadership Award” category from Business Intelligence Group’s 2024 Sustainability Awards program, which honors organizations, products, people, and initiatives across industries that have prioritized sustainability as a core element of their business practice.

Our Emissions Reduction Commitments

Our Emissions Reduction Commitments

Ziff Davis is proud to have received validation of its science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a partnership between the Carbon Disclosure Project, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute, and the Worldwide Fund for Nature. The SBTi has evaluated our company’s Scope 1, 2, and 3 target ambition and has determined that it is in line with global efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

Ziff Davis commits to reducing our:

  • Absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 50% by 2030 from a 2021 base year
  • Scope 3 GHG emissions from purchased goods & services and capital goods 51.6% per USD value added within the same timeframe

The SBTi is the lead partner of the Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign, an urgent call to action from a global coalition of UN agencies, business, and industry leaders who are mobilizing companies to set net-zero-based emissions targets in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Reducing Our Emissions

Reducing Our Emissions

Ziff Davis committed to measuring our carbon footprint in 2021 through an annual GHG emissions inventory process, calculating our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, using an independent third-party expert to measure our company-wide energy usage (including energy derived from renewable sources) and GHG emissions. This process determined that the primary sources of GHG emissions associated with Ziff Davis’ operations are:

  • Energy usage at our office locations and co-located data centers
  • Upstream emissions associated with our suppliers
  • Our employee commuting and remote working activities

Ziff Davis’ company-wide actions to address these sources of emissions include:

  • Receiving validation of our science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets from the Science Based Targets initiative
    • Our Scope 3 emissions declined by 38% from 2022 to 2023 due to increased sourcing from CDP and SBTi aligned suppliers, as well as updating the sources of emissions factors for these categories and overall lower vendor spend
    • Our Scope 1 and 2 emissions also declined by 38% from 2022 to 2023 due to a decrease in our operational square footage and an increase in the usage of renewable energy
  • Moving our development and production environments from co-located data centers to cloud platforms providers committed to zero carbon footprints — as of the end of 2023, 84% of our data storage is cloud-based
  • Shrinking our operational square footage by 26% in 2023 over 2022 by expanding remote work options

Ziff Davis Sustainability Council

Ziff Davis Sustainability Council

At the management level, initiatives aimed at reducing our environmental footprint are developed by the cross-functional Sustainability Council, with oversight by Ziff Davis’ Senior Vice President, Sustainability & Responsibility. The Sustainability Council includes over 145 members, including our facilities managers, who meet monthly with the goal of reducing Ziff Davis’ environmental footprint by:

  • Working together internally to focus on challenges and opportunities to change our systems and processes to become a more sustainable organization
  • Creating awareness, educating and supporting our users and customers about sustainability to ultimately help them reduce their footprint
  • Identifying and altering what employees can individually do to be more sustainable in their everyday lives

Improving Our Energy Efficiency

Improving Our Energy Efficiency

Ziff Davis is focused on reducing the energy used in our operations by seeking to use alternative or renewable energy technologies and sources. Our actions include:

  • Reducing the amount of office space we use by offering more remote work flexibility to both current employees and new hires, which enabled Ziff Davis to shrink our operational square footage by 26% in 2023 over 2022
  • Leasing office space in buildings certified through the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, the world’s most widely recognized and applied benchmark for green buildings

Minimizing Waste

Minimizing Waste

Ziff Davis reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills from our offices by:

  • Maintaining recycling and composting programs at our New York headquarters and other major facilities
  • Using print management software to decrease the amount of paper used in our offices and launching an awareness program to educate employees about recycling and composting
  • Providing Zero Waste Boxes to collect recyclables not collected by the local municipality, purchasing recycled materials, and recycling toner cartridges and electronic equipment to reduce e-waste
  • Partnering with internet service provider Starry, Inc., and technology non-profit Human-I-T on a program to refurbish used devices to further reduce e-waste — in 2023, we donated over 150 computers to Human-I-T for refurbishing
  • Working with e-waste recycling partners to responsibly recycle our e-waste with environmental sustainability in mind when we are unable to refurbish used devices