Stories
Dive into our climate goals: Our journey towards a sustainable future
1 January 1970
"It begins already in the forest, our work to reduce the climate footprint and contribute to a photo book that considers both people and the environment - and it continues until you open the book."
Our value chain stretches from the forests where the paper for our books begins its journey, through paper mills and printing presses, and finally to our customers around the world. Along this journey, emissions are generated that we strive to minimize, to be part of a positive change. That's why we have set ambitious climate goals in line with science and what is required to achieve the Paris Agreement - to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees. This means that our emissions must be halved by 2030, measured in tons of CO2e per million SEK in revenue.
Our climate goals
We have clear targets to minimize our carbon emissions, which we measure in ton Co2e related to revenue (ton Co2/MSEK):
2026: 35% reduction (Scope 1,2 and 3)*
2030: 50% reduction (Scope 1,2 and 3)*
2040: Reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain
Our current emissions divided according to the chart:
Categories with none or minor impact are excluded, such as prints.
* GHG Protocol establishes comprehensive global standardized frameworks to measure and manage greenhouse gas (GHG) where greenhouse gas emissions are categorized into three scopes: Scope 1 includes direct emissions from a company's own operations, Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from purchased energy, and Scope 3 involves indirect emissions from the entire value chain.
In 2025, our total climate impact was 930.6 tons of CO2e, which corresponds to 3.0 tons per million SEK in revenue and 1.79 kg per book. This can be compared to the previous year, 2024, when our emissions were 870.7 tons of CO2e, 2.9 tons per million SEK in revenue, and 1.8 kg per book.The main driver of increased emissions is our revenue growth and the increased number of books we produce.
We work continuously and in close collaboration with our printing partners to focus on the largest sources of emissions: paper, energy, and transport.
Our activities in 2026
Paper: We now offer silk paper, which has a lower climate impact than gloss, in all European markets. In order to ensure silk paper is the easy, conscious choice for customers, we made two changes in 2025:
- We adjusted the price for silk paper, making it equal to gloss. This allowed our customers to choose the lower climate paper at the same price.
- Silk paper is now the default paper choice in the cart.
In the past, most customers chose gloss as their default paper, but after the changes we made in 2025, 70% of our customers choose silk paper for their photo books, reducing our climate impact overall.
Transport: We are investigating greener transport solutions in several countries, with support from our printing partners.
Energy: It is our aim to have all printing partners at 100% renewable energy in their printing facilities. We collaborate closely with our partners to find the best solutions. Four out of seven printing partners have 100% renewable energy, as of today.
Challenges
Glue is a significant driver of our emissions, but it is difficult to measure the exact amounts for our books and influence the type of glue we use. In 2026, we will focus on gaining more insight about the glue that is used, and look for alternatives together with our printing partners.
Successes
Our Swedish printing press switched to packaging with 70% recycled material. Compared to previous packaing with only 37% recycled material, this is a step in the right direction toward having 100% recycled packaging.
If you want to read more about how we work and our emissions, see our climate report for 2025, 2024, 2023 and 2022.
What does net zero mean?
Net zero means that all avoidable emissions have been reduced to the maximum and that the remaining emissions have been removed from the atmosphere through climate compensation. We have set our goals based on the Science Based Targets Initiative's definition of net zero, which involves three commitments:
1
Setting a short-term target for emissions reductions within 5-10 years.
2
Committing to a 90% reduction in emissions across the entire value chain by 2050.
3
Neutralizing remaining emissions through permanent carbon sequestration (more about this will be highlighted in an upcoming post).
We strive to contribute to more sustainable photo book production beyond our value chain, so that you can enjoy a book made with minimal environmental impact, but a big impact on you and your memories.
Let Once Upon do all the work for you!
Almost there! Scan the QR code and make beautiful photo books right from your phone with Once Upon.
Continue to web appSelect your preferred language
Photo books for every moment
Turning your memories into stories that last
Once Upon® and the Once Upon symbol are registered trademarks of Once Upon Publishing AB | All rights reserved. SE559073-3670-01 | Storgatan 41 C, 931 32 Skellefteå, Sweden | hello@onceupon.se