John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (WLYB): PESTLE Analysis [Nov-2025 Updated]

You need to understand John Wiley & Sons, Inc. not just as a legacy publisher, but as a knowledge-tech firm making a tough, high-stakes pivot. The PESTLE factors below show a company caught between political pressures on education costs and the massive technological threat of Generative AI, which is reshaping both their Research and Learning segments. Still, the fiscal 2025 results are defintely encouraging: they drove Adjusted EBITDA margin up to 24% and secured $40 million in AI licensing revenue, a clear sign their content moat is valuable, plus Free Cash Flow rose 10% to $126 million. This analysis maps the external forces-from Open Access mandates to global inflation-that will determine if they can sustain that momentum and hit their revenue guidance of between $1.65 billion and $1.69 billion.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (WLYB) - PESTLE Analysis: Political factors

Government funding for higher education and research directly impacts institutional library budgets.

The political climate around federal and state education spending directly dictates the purchasing power of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.'s (WLYB) primary customers: academic libraries and research institutions. Honestly, every dollar cut from a library's budget is a direct threat to WLYB's core Research segment, which generated $1,075.5 million in revenue in fiscal year 2025.

You need to watch two key trends. First, a long-term shift in institutional priorities has already caused academic library spending per student at four-year colleges to drop by nearly 20% between 2014 and 2022. Second, the political volatility of federal appropriations is a near-term risk. For example, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a key source of federal funding for libraries, was targeted for deep reductions, having awarded about $270 million in grants in fiscal year 2024. A government shutdown in late 2025, for instance, could immediately freeze the drawdown of approved FY2025 funds, causing a cash flow crisis for institutions that rely on the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants to pay for journal subscriptions and databases.

Trade policies and tariffs affect the cost and distribution of physical books internationally.

Trade policy is a significant cost and supply chain risk for WLYB's print-reliant segments. The expansion of US tariffs in 2025 has directly increased the cost of production and distribution for physical books. Here's the quick math: the US imported $1.82 billion of uncoated paper in 2023, with 67% of that coming from Canada. New policies in 2025 include a 25% tariff on textbook and paper imports from Canada and Mexico, plus a 10% blanket tariff on most foreign goods.

These duties are passed on to publishers, forcing a choice between raising retail prices or shrinking margins. One publisher estimated a potential $1 increase per hardcover book. This cost pressure accelerates the shift to digital materials, which is a structural opportunity for WLYB, but it also disrupts the existing, profitable print supply chain.

• 25% tariffs on paper from Canada and Mexico.
• 10% blanket tariffs on printed learning materials.
• Rising costs push customers faster toward digital-only adoption.

Global political stability influences university enrollment and corporate training spending.

Political stability is a soft, but defintely real, risk factor that impacts enrollment and corporate willingness to spend on training. WLYB's Learning segment, which includes academic and professional learning and generated $584.8 million in FY2025 revenue, is sensitive to global confidence.

When political tensions rise-whether it's a regional conflict or a major trade dispute-universities see volatility in international student enrollment, and corporations often freeze discretionary spending like professional development and training. This directly hits the Academic group (FY2025 revenue: $334 million) and the Professional group (FY2025 sales were flat at $251 million). A stable political environment promotes the long-term planning necessary for university partnerships and large-scale corporate upskilling contracts, but the current global environment demands a cautious outlook.

State-level textbook adoption policies in the US still drive significant revenue cycles.

The political battles over curriculum content at the state level in the US create a major, non-financial risk that translates directly into revenue cycles. In 2025, nearly 150 education-related bills were filed in 32 states, attempting to modify curriculum and instructional materials.

The US has 19 states that use a centralized board review system for textbook adoption, including large markets like Texas and Florida. Failure to align a textbook with a state's newly politicized curriculum standards-for example, on history, civics, or science-can exclude a publisher from a massive purchase cycle for several years. To be fair, WLYB's primary focus is higher education and professional markets, not K-12, but the political precedent of content control is a risk that could easily migrate to the college level, affecting their academic content and inclusive access programs.

Political Factor	FY2025 Financial Context (WLYB)	Near-Term Risk/Opportunity
Government Funding for Research	Research Segment Revenue: $1,075.5 million	Risk of institutional budget cuts due to proposed federal funding reductions (e.g., IMLS) and potential government shutdowns.
Trade Policies & Tariffs	All print-based revenue (part of $1.678B total)	25% tariffs on paper imports from Canada/Mexico increase production costs and accelerate the shift to digital.
State-Level Adoption Policies	Learning Segment Academic Group: $334 million	Political curriculum mandates in 19 centralized adoption states can block revenue cycles if content is not compliant.
AI/Tech Regulation	AI Licensing Revenue: $40 million (up from $23M in FY2024)	Opportunity for WLYB to secure more AI licensing deals, but risk from future federal regulation on data use and content rights.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (WLYB) - PESTLE Analysis: Economic factors

The economic environment for John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in 2025 is a study in conflicting forces: high-cost inflation on inputs is being offset by aggressive internal cost-cutting, while a global slowdown is pressuring core subscription revenue despite a booming market for specialized AI-driven content. You need to focus on how John Wiley & Sons, Inc.'s international exposure and digital cost structure amplify these macro trends. Here's the quick math on the external pressures.

Economic Factor	2025 Metric / Data Point	Wiley Impact (FY2025)
International Exposure	49% of consolidated revenue generated outside the US.	Reported Revenue of $1,678 million was down 10%, but Adjusted Revenue was up 3% at constant currency, highlighting significant currency headwinds.
Paper/Printing Inflation	US Producer Price Index for paper expected to rise 1.7% in 2025 (5-year CAGR of 5.4%).	Increases cost of sales, partially mitigated by a shift to digital (Research segment is 96% digital revenue).
Digital Infrastructure Costs	Global public cloud spend projected to exceed $679 billion in 2025; major providers' run rates increased 17% to 35% (Q1 2025).	Drives up technology costs, which the company is addressing via a restructuring program aiming for $120 million in cost savings by end of FY2025.
Corporate Training Spending	Global Corporate Training Market projected to grow to $417.53 billion in 2025 (4.7% CAGR).	Core Learning revenue (excluding AI licensing) declined 1% in Q1 2025, reflecting corporate budget tightening and 'retail channel softness' despite the overall market's growth.

Inflationary pressures increase costs for paper, printing, and digital infrastructure

You are seeing a dual inflationary squeeze hitting both legacy and modern cost structures. While John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is now a highly digital business-with its Research segment drawing about 96% of its revenue from digital products and services-it still faces rising costs for its remaining print and substantial digital infrastructure. The Producer Price Index for paper is expected to rise by another 1.7% in 2025, which, on top of a 5-year CAGR of 5.4% through 2025, means print production remains a persistent drag on margins.

But the bigger near-term risk is digital infrastructure. Global public cloud spend is projected to exceed $679 billion in 2025, and major providers like AWS and Google Cloud are seeing their run rates increase by up to 35%. This surge, driven by compute-intensive AI workloads, directly impacts John Wiley & Sons, Inc.'s technology costs. This is why the company is executing a Global Restructuring Program, anticipating realizing $120 million in cost savings by the end of Fiscal Year 2025, specifically to optimize technology and operating expenses.

University budget tightening leads to aggressive negotiations on journal subscription bundles (Big Deals)

The financial pressure on academic libraries is intense, forcing a decisive shift away from traditional 'Big Deals' (large, bundled journal subscriptions) toward 'Read & Publish' or Open Access (OA) models. This isn't just a pricing issue; it's a fundamental change in the business model that puts pressure on John Wiley & Sons, Inc.'s Research segment. In the UK, for instance, the Office for Students predicts nearly three-quarters (72%) of universities could face a financial deficit by 2025-2026, leading to library budget cuts.

You see the direct impact of this tightening in negotiations. In early 2025, negotiations between John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and the Swiss university consortium (swissuniversities) failed, resulting in a 'no-deal' situation where access to new 2025 articles was disabled for institutions like the University of Lausanne. A similar breakdown occurred with the Norwegian consortium (Sikt/University of Oslo), which publicly stated John Wiley & Sons, Inc. had not provided 'the essential cost reduction.' This is a critical risk, as a single large consortium cancellation can immediately cut off a major revenue stream. The trend is clear:

• Libraries demand lower costs, not just new models.
• Negotiations are leading to temporary or permanent access blackouts.
• Open Access (OA) is now the default negotiating position.

Currency fluctuations significantly impact international sales, which are a large part of revenue

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.'s broad global footprint, while a long-term strength, exposes it to significant foreign exchange volatility. Roughly 49% of the company's consolidated revenue for Fiscal Year 2025 was generated from outside the United States, primarily in the UK, Germany, and India. This is a huge portion of the top line that is subject to currency translation risk.

The impact is starkly visible in the FY2025 results. While the full-year reported revenue was $1,678 million (a 10% decrease, largely due to divestitures), the company's Adjusted Revenue (which excludes divestitures) was actually up 3% at constant currency. The difference between the reported and constant currency figures is the direct headwind from a stronger US Dollar (USD). This means a strong USD is defintely eroding the value of international sales when they are translated back into the company's reporting currency.

Global economic slowdowns reduce corporate training and professional certification spending

While the long-term outlook for the global corporate training market is strong-projected to grow to $417.53 billion in 2025-a near-term economic slowdown creates a disconnect for John Wiley & Sons, Inc.'s core business. Corporate training and professional certifications are often discretionary budget items, making them an easy target for cost-conscious companies during periods of uncertainty. You see this in the segmentation data.

For Fiscal Year 2025, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.'s Learning segment revenue was up 2% overall. However, this was heavily skewed by a large, one-time AI content rights project. Excluding that project, Q1 2025 Learning revenue actually declined 1%, and the Professional segment was specifically impacted by 'retail channel softness.' This indicates that while companies are investing big in AI-related content licensing (an opportunity), they are simultaneously pulling back on general professional book purchases and traditional corporate training programs (a risk). The core business is feeling the pinch of a slower economy, even as the digital transformation opportunity is booming.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (WLYB) - PESTLE Analysis: Social factors

The shift to Open Access (OA) publishing models fundamentally changes how research is consumed and paid for.

The social demand for democratized knowledge-making publicly funded research freely available-is forcing a fundamental shift in the Research publishing segment. This is moving the industry from a reader-pays subscription model to an author/institution-pays model, primarily through Article Processing Charges (APCs) in Gold Open Access (OA). For John Wiley & Sons, Inc., this shift is a major growth driver within its core Research segment.

The global Open Access Journal Publishing market is projected to reach $3.2 billion by 2028, up from $2.1 billion in 2024, growing at a significant clip. Wiley is capitalizing on this, with its Research segment revenue increasing 3% to $1.07 billion in fiscal year 2025 (FY2025). This growth was explicitly driven by Open Access expansion and content rights projects. The transition is now a core part of the business model, not a side project.

• Open Access growth is strong in the Research segment.
• The industry is shifting payment from readers to authors/institutions.
• Wiley's Q2 FY2025 saw strong growth in Gold Open Access.

Growing demand for skills-based learning and professional certifications drives the professional content segments.

The social pressure on individuals to reskill and upskill continually, driven by rapid technological change, creates a massive market for professional content and certifications. While Wiley strategically divested its Wiley Edge business (which focused on talent development) in FY2025, the remaining Professional content business is still directly exposed to this demand. The divestiture of the non-core education services allowed the company to focus on its high-margin content assets.

Here's the quick math: The Learning segment's Professional group reported full-year FY2025 sales of $251 million, which was flat overall. But honestly, the underlying demand is visible in the Q2 FY2025 results, where Professional revenue grew 11% (or 8% excluding one-time AI licensing revenue) due to better retail channel performance and sell-through. This volatility shows the segment is sensitive to retail conditions, but the demand for professional knowledge is defintely there.

Demographic shifts in student populations (e.g., non-traditional learners) require new content formats.

The traditional college student demographic is shrinking, while non-traditional learners-older students, those with full-time jobs, and those seeking micro-credentials-are growing. This social shift demands flexible, digital, and outcome-focused learning materials, moving away from expensive, static print textbooks. This is a clear opportunity for Wiley's Academic group within the Learning segment.

Wiley's Academic group is responding by pushing digital courseware and inclusive access models. For FY2025, the Academic group's sales rose 3% to $334 million, a direct result of strong demand for its inclusive access and digital courseware materials, such as zyBooks. This is a smart move, as digital formats are easier to update and distribute to a diverse, geographically dispersed learner base.

Wiley Segment/Group	FY2025 Revenue	FY2025 Growth Driver	Social Factor Connection
Research Segment	$1.07 billion (+3%)	Open Access Publishing	Demand for free, public access to research (Democratization of Knowledge)
Learning: Academic Group	$334 million (+3%)	Digital Courseware (e.g., zyBooks)	Shift to non-traditional learners needing flexible, affordable digital content
Learning: Professional Group	$251 million (Flat)	Professional Content/Certifications	Growing need for upskilling/reskilling in the workforce

Increased public scrutiny on the cost of higher education and academic materials.

The public and political focus on the soaring cost of college-with tuition and textbooks having risen by more than 180% over the last few decades-is a major headwind for the entire education publishing sector. In 2025, this scrutiny is intense, with the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions holding hearings on reforming financial transparency in higher education. This pressure is what drives the market toward lower-cost alternatives like inclusive access and Open Educational Resources (OER).

Wiley is mitigating this risk by adopting models that lower the cost-per-student. The growth in inclusive access and digital courseware isn't just about format; it's a direct response to this affordability crisis. If onboarding takes 14+ days or the price is opaque, churn risk rises dramatically. The company must continue to prove the value proposition of its content against the backdrop of this affordability debate.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (WLYB) - PESTLE Analysis: Technological factors

The rapid rise of Generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT) threatens traditional textbook and journal content creation.

Generative AI (GenAI) is a dual-edged sword for John Wiley & Sons, Inc., creating both a significant revenue stream and an existential threat to traditional content models. The immediate opportunity lies in licensing the company's vast, authoritative intellectual property (IP) to train large language models (LLMs). This strategy delivered $40 million in total AI licensing revenue in Fiscal 2025, a substantial increase from $23 million in Fiscal 2024.

This revenue comes from executing landmark content licensing projects with major technology companies, effectively monetizing the data moat created by decades of publishing. Still, the threat to the Learning segment is real: the segment saw a revenue decline of 6% in Q3 Fiscal 2025, with softness in academic book sales, a trend that GenAI-powered study tools will likely accelerate.

To mitigate the risk of content devaluation and misuse, Wiley is actively developing AI guidelines for authors and editors, aiming to maintain the integrity of its scholarly record. They also launched the Wiley AI Gateway, an initiative that integrates AI tools with their research content to enhance discovery and analysis for users, rather than simply replacing human-created content.

AI Licensing Metric	Fiscal Year 2025 Value	Fiscal Year 2024 Value
Total AI Licensing Revenue	$40 million	$23 million
Year-over-Year Growth	73.9%	-
Key Strategy	Licensing authoritative content to large tech companies for LLM training	Initial licensing agreements

Digital platforms and learning management systems (LMS) are now the primary content delivery mechanism.

The transition from print to digital is largely complete in the Learning segment, with digital delivery now the dominant mechanism. For the Fiscal Year 2025, approximately 60% of the Learning segment's revenue came from digital and online products and services. This is a critical metric because digital products support a recurring revenue model, which is far more defensible than one-time print sales.

The company relies on its proprietary publishing platform, Atypon®, to manage and deliver content for its Research segment and partner societies. This platform currently delivers integrated access to over 11 million articles and approximately 29,000 online books, providing a consistent, high-quality user experience directly integrated with institutional workflows. The growth in digital courseware and Inclusive Access models in FY2025 further underscores the pivot away from legacy print distribution.

• Deliver content via Atypon® platform.
• Support over 11 million articles digitally.
• Generate 60% of Learning revenue from digital products.

Cybersecurity risks are a constant threat to protecting intellectual property and customer data.

Protecting a massive library of proprietary scholarly content and a global customer base from cyber threats is a constant, high-stakes operational cost. The risk of intellectual property (IP) theft, especially of pre-publication research, and the integrity of customer data are explicitly cited as major operational risks for the company.

The governance structure reflects this criticality: the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors is tasked with the oversight of cybersecurity, data privacy, and information technology risks. This committee receives regular, quarterly updates from the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and the Data Protection and Privacy Director, plus an annual cybersecurity educational session was held in Fiscal 2025. While a specific cybersecurity CapEx figure isn't broken out, the total Fiscal 2025 Capital Expenditure was $77 million, a portion of which was directed toward modernizing core infrastructure and security systems.

You can't afford a major breach; the reputational damage alone would be catastrophic. The focus on 'modernize infrastructure' in the total CapEx budget defintely includes hardening their network perimeter and data centers.

Investment in data analytics is crucial for personalizing learning and optimizing journal submissions.

Strategic investment in data analytics and knowledge services is essential for optimizing internal operations and creating new, high-value corporate revenue streams. The company's strategy includes 'Accelerating New Engines of Growth by scaling corporate-focused solutions in AI, data services, and other targeted adjacencies.'

In the Research segment, data-driven insights are used to manage the peer-review and publishing workflow. This is showing results: submissions were up 18% and output was up 8% year-to-date in Q3 Fiscal 2025, indicating a successful optimization of the journal submission and acceptance process. Furthermore, the company is extending its reach into the large corporate market by selling science analytics and knowledge services to major tech, pharmaceutical, and chemical companies, leveraging its data assets beyond traditional academic publishing.

Here's the quick math on the Research segment's publishing volume:

• Article Submissions: Up 18% (Q3 FY2025 YTD).
• Article Output: Up 8% (Q3 FY2025 YTD).
• New Revenue Stream: Science analytics and knowledge services for corporate R&D.

Finance: Ensure the next quarterly reporting includes a breakout of the cloud-based solution spend that is currently capitalized in cash flow from operations, as this is a key indicator of ongoing digital investment.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (WLYB) - PESTLE Analysis: Legal factors

You're looking at John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (WLYB) and the legal landscape, and honestly, it's all about digital IP protection and the massive shift to Open Science. The legal risks aren't about one crippling lawsuit right now; they're about managing a relentless, global transition that impacts every contract and revenue stream.

WLYB's management stated in their April 30, 2025, Form 10-K that the ultimate resolution of all pending litigation is not expected to have a material effect on their consolidated financial condition or results of operations. This is the key takeaway: the legal challenges are structural, not existential, but they require constant, high-cost defense and innovation.

Global copyright and intellectual property (IP) laws are constantly challenged by digital piracy and unauthorized content sharing.

The core of WLYB's business-content ownership-is under siege from digital piracy and the new, complex threat of generative AI. The company is actively fighting this by transitioning from pure defense to monetization, realizing $40 million in AI content licensing revenue in Fiscal 2025, a significant jump from $23 million in Fiscal 2024. This new revenue stream is a direct legal and commercial response to AI models training on copyrighted data.

Still, the integrity of the scholarly record remains a major legal and ethical headache. WLYB's acquisition of Hindawi led to a crisis involving 'paper mills'-fraudulent submissions. As of April 2024, approximately 10% of all manuscript submissions WLYB received were flagged as fictitious, which creates legal liability for the firm's publishing standards and necessitates costly, proactive integrity measures.

• Monetize IP: $40 million in FY2025 AI licensing revenue.
• Defend Integrity: 10% of submissions flagged as fictitious (April 2024).
• Explicit Rights: 2025 copyright reserves rights for text and data mining and AI training.

New data privacy regulations (like GDPR or CCPA) increase compliance costs for customer data handling.

As a global publisher, WLYB operates across jurisdictions with stringent data privacy laws, including the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). While no major fines have been publicly disclosed against WLYB for these violations in Fiscal 2025, the cost of compliance is baked into their operating expenses.

The risk is growing. For context, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) increased its maximum administrative fines for CCPA violations in 2025 to $7,988 per intentional violation involving consumers under 16. The largest CCPA settlement to date, $1.55 million, was issued in July 2025 against another website publisher for failing to honor opt-out signals. This shows the real-world financial consequences WLYB must constantly work to avoid through robust internal controls and technology spending.

Open Science mandates from governments and funding bodies pressure traditional subscription models.

The global push for publicly funded research to be immediately and freely accessible (Open Science) is a direct legal threat to WLYB's high-margin subscription journal business. This is a structural change, not a temporary market fluctuation.

In the US, policies rolled out by agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Energy (DOE) require immediate public access to peer-reviewed articles from federally funded research by the end of 2025. Internationally, this pressure is leading to breakdowns in licensing negotiations, like the one with the Consortium of Swiss University Libraries (CSAL), which failed to reach a 'Read & Publish' agreement by March 2025. As a result, WLYB articles published from January 1, 2025, are no longer accessible via institutional platforms in Switzerland unless they are Open Access.

Contractual disputes over author rights and licensing terms in the digital age are common.

The shift to digital and AI-driven content is creating a new wave of contractual friction with authors and editors. The publisher must constantly update its agreements to secure rights for new uses, such as AI training, which is a major point of contention in the creative world.

WLYB's author guidelines, updated in March 2025, explicitly require authors to ensure that any AI technology they use does not restrict WLYB's right to use the content, including for AI training. This is a defensive legal move. The broader industry risk is highlighted by the August/September 2025 settlement of the Anthropic class-action lawsuit, where the AI company agreed to pay $1.5 billion to authors and publishers for using pirated copies of books to train its chatbot, Claude. While WLYB was not a lead plaintiff, this landmark settlement establishes a massive financial precedent for copyright holders like WLYB to pursue claims against AI firms that use their content without a license.

Here's a quick summary of the legal environment for WLYB:

Legal Factor	FY2025 Impact & Data Point	Actionable Risk/Opportunity
IP/AI Licensing & Piracy	$40 million in AI licensing revenue (FY2025). 10% of submissions flagged as fictitious (April 2024).	Opportunity to grow licensing revenue; High operational cost to maintain research integrity and fight fraud.
Open Science Mandates	Failed 'Read & Publish' agreement with Swiss Consortium (March 2025); US federal zero-embargo policies by end of 2025.	Direct threat to subscription revenue; Requires accelerated shift to Article Processing Charge (APC) Open Access models.
Data Privacy (CCPA/GDPR)	Maximum CCPA fines increased for 2025 to $7,988 per intentional violation; No material WLYB fines reported.	Increased compliance costs are a constant drain; Risk of multi-million dollar class-action suits remains high.
Author/Contractual Disputes	March 2025 author guidelines updated for AI usage rights; Industry-wide $1.5 billion Anthropic AI settlement (Sept 2025) sets precedent.	Need to continually update contracts to secure digital and AI rights; Potential for future litigation against unlicensed AI use of WLYB's vast content library.

The legal team's job is defintely more about proactive contract design and IP monetization than just fighting old-school piracy now.

Finance: Track the legal defense spend against the $40 million AI licensing revenue to calculate the net margin on the AI IP strategy.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (WLYB) - PESTLE Analysis: Environmental factors

Pressure from institutional customers and authors to demonstrate sustainable printing and supply chain practices.

You need to understand that the academic community, which is John Wiley & Sons, Inc.'s core customer base, is defintely pushing for verifiable sustainability. Institutional buyers-universities and research libraries-increasingly use Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria in their procurement. This isn't just a preference; it's a hard requirement showing up in contracts.

Wiley is responding by targeting deforestation-free supply chains by 2025, which aligns with regulations like the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). This commitment requires rigorous auditing of their paper suppliers and is why the company maintains a specific Paper Selection and Use Policy. Honestly, this is a bottom-line issue: failure to comply means losing major institutional contracts, so it drives real action in their vendor code of conduct.

The transition from print to digital reduces the company's overall carbon footprint from paper and shipping.

The shift from physical books and journals to digital content like the Wiley Online Library is the single biggest factor reducing the company's Scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions from the value chain). Less paper means less logging, less ink, and far less fuel burned for shipping heavy printed materials globally. That's a huge operational win.

The company has a Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) validated goal to achieve absolute Net Zero by FY2040 for all Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. Here's the quick math on their progress and targets:

Metric	Target / Achievement	Context / Scope
Long-Term GHG Target	Absolute Net Zero by FY2040	Covers Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.
Near-Term GHG Target	50% absolute reduction by 2030	Covers Scope 1, 2, and select Scope 3 (purchased goods/services and business travel).
Historical Reduction	30.7% reduction	Achieved in Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions between FY2020 and FY2021.
FY2024 Scope 1 Energy Consumption	3,469,530 kWh	Direct emissions from owned/controlled sources (UK operations only).
FY2024 Scope 2 Energy Consumption	2,777,667 kWh	Indirect emissions from purchased electricity (UK operations only).

The divestiture of Wiley University Services also contributed to a 1.5% reduction in Scope 1 & 2 emissions in FY2024, showing how portfolio optimization can directly impact environmental metrics. Still, the core of the strategy is real estate optimization and energy efficiency upgrades.

ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reporting is a growing focus for investors and stakeholders.

For a company like Wiley, ESG is now a mainstream investment consideration; it's not just a marketing add-on. The market is demanding transparency, which is why the company publishes an annual Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) report, including a specific FY25 TCFD Report. This level of disclosure helps institutional investors like BlackRock assess climate-related risks and opportunities.

The company's commitment to the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is a critical signal to the market, aligning their climate goals with the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C scenario. They were a CarbonNeutral® certified company across global operations for three consecutive years ending January 2024, achieved primarily through purchasing offsets. The future focus, however, is shifting away from offsets and toward absolute decarbonization to meet the FY2040 net-zero goal.

Managing e-waste from disposed hardware and digital infrastructure is a long-term concern.

The irony of the digital transition is that it substitutes paper waste for electronic waste (e-waste). While Wiley's print footprint shrinks, its reliance on data centers, servers, and employee hardware grows. This creates a long-term liability for managing discarded IT assets.

Globally, e-waste is a massive problem, on track to reach 82 million tonnes by 2030, a 33% increase from 2022 figures. The documented global recycling rate is projected to drop to just 20% by 2030, which highlights the systemic risk. For Wiley, this translates to:

• Data Center Footprint: Energy consumption and cooling for the Wiley Online Library and other platforms.
• Hardware Disposal: Managing end-of-life for company-owned computers, servers, and networking equipment, which contain hazardous materials and valuable rare earth elements.
• Regulatory Risk: New legislation, such as the stricter e-waste laws in California and amendments to the international Basel Convention in 2025, will increase the cost and complexity of IT asset disposition.

The action here is simple: you need to see a specific, company-wide e-waste recycling and reuse policy with quantifiable metrics in their next ESG report.