The Bungay-based book printing specialist said its targets have been verified using “the most ambitious designation available through the SBTi process”.

Clays CEO Edoardo Cuomo commented: “This is a very exciting time for Clays. My family has always been focused on the impact of our business on the environment so as soon as we had an opportunity to accelerate our ambition to the next level we wanted to take it.

“The team have worked really hard on this project for more than two years, and I have to thank them a lot because without them all of this wouldn’t have been possible.”

In the near-term Clays plans to reduce its absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 46.2% by 2030, based on the 2019 base year.

It also aims to reduce absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions by 27.5% within the same timeframe.

The firm’s long-term targets involve reducing absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 90% by 2050 (also from the 2019 base year), and cutting absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions by 90% within the same timeframe.

Clays aims to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain by 2050.

In 2022 its UK location-based emissions were: 1,223 tonnes for Scope 1 and 3,965 tonnes for Scope 2.

“The road is still long but I am sure that all the players involved in our industries are committed to making progress together,” Cuomo added.

Clays thanked its employees and external partners for their efforts thus far.

“With our targets now validated, we aim to move forward with collaborative initiatives with our suppliers, customers and partners across the value chain to achieve these goals,” the firm stated.

Clays is the UK’s biggest single-site book printer and had sales of £90.9m in calendar year 2022, up from £85.5m the prior year.

It originally committed to setting SBTi net-zero targets in March 2022.