New Elsevier agreement

The agreement includes a new element concerning carbon footprint, formulated as follows:

Greenhouse gas emissions

Elsevier is committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2040 and is committed to working with its partners to quantify and measure emissions, and take steps to reduce emissions. As part of this commitment, Elsevier aims to enhance its dialogue with the Consortium under the ambit of the Elsevier climate action program.

Denmark’s climate targets are a reduction of 70% in GHG emissions by 2030 and attainment of net neutrality by 2040. The Consortium seeks from Elsevier an annual account of the total GHG emissions. As part of the Consortium’s and Elsevier’s ongoing engagement under the climate action program, Elsevier agrees to enter into a pilot to explore how to allocate and report specifically on digital emissions derived from the Consortium’s activities, including energy consumption leading to GHG discharges in accordance with GHG-P scope 3.11, pertaining specifically to data center usage and web-based software applications.

Thus, Denmark has become a spearhead for a climate initiative that other European consortia can use in their own negotiations. The British and Irish licensing consortia, for example, are incorporating this formulation into their 2025 negotiations with Elsevier.

Additionally, the Royal Library has implemented The Journal Finder that may be relevant for your departments:

Journal Finder
In order to support researchers in publishing Open Access, the Royal Library has now established Journal Finder, which aims to make it easier and more straightforward to identify journals covered by national licensing agreements for Open Access publishing. Try the service, which is free, here: https://pro.kb.dk/en/open-science/journal-finder

Read more here: https://pro.kb.dk/en/licensing/oa-publication-guidelines/elsevier

If You have specific questions about the Elsevier agreement, please contact oa@kb.dk