Fictra Environmental and Climate Policy

Adopted: 16 June 2026 Review date: 16 June 2027

Fictra Ltd recognises the climate emergency as one of the defining conditions of our time. This policy sets out how Fictra considers and acts on environmental impact across our publishing, programme and operational activity. It applies to all Fictra activity, including commissioned writing, cohort programmes, published outputs, in-person events, digital infrastructure, and procurement decisions.

1. Our position

We accept the scientific consensus on climate change and its primary causes, and we accept that organisations of every size have a role in reducing emissions and adapting to a changing climate. Fictra is a small organisation with a modest operational footprint, but we take seriously both the operational and the editorial dimensions of climate as they apply to a publisher of contemporary serial fiction.

2. Editorial direction

Fictra publishes serial fiction in dark, technology-inflected genres. Within our editorial direction, we explicitly welcome work that engages with the climate emergency as part of contemporary lived experience — including stories that examine the intersection of digital power, ecological consequence, and the political and economic structures behind both. We do not require all Fictra writers to write about climate, but we treat it as a legitimate and important strand of the territory we publish in.

3. Operational commitments

Digital-first delivery. Fictra operates as a digital-first publisher. Editorial work, contracts, communications and published outputs are delivered digitally. Print is avoided unless essential.

Low-carbon travel. For in-person activity, Fictra prioritises low-carbon travel. Rail is preferred over flights for all internal UK travel. Flights between Scottish cities are avoided. Travel costs covered for participants are budgeted on rail rates. Where rail is impractical (for example, for participants in the Highlands or Islands), we support the journey by the lowest-carbon route available.

Digital infrastructure. Fictra reviews its hosting and content-delivery arrangements with environmental impact in mind. Where contracts are renewed, we seek providers powered by renewable energy where pricing is reasonable and migration is practical.

Events. Where Fictra hosts in-person events, we choose venues with attention to their own sustainability practices and encourage plant-based catering options where catering is provided.

4. Procurement and decision-making

Climate impact is a standing consideration in Fictra's procurement and contracting decisions. When engaging freelance contractors, choosing venues, renewing digital infrastructure contracts, or commissioning production work, the climate impact of the choice is one factor weighed against cost, quality and fit. Where options are otherwise similar, the lower-carbon option is preferred. Where the lower-carbon option costs significantly more, we make a deliberate decision in context rather than defaulting to the higher-impact option.

5. Review

This policy is reviewed annually alongside Fictra's safeguarding and EDI policies. The review includes a light-touch assessment of how Fictra's activity has actually performed against the commitments here — what travel was taken, what hosting arrangements changed, what procurement decisions were made — and what specific changes we want to make for the year ahead. Concerns or suggestions about the policy itself can be sent to hello@fictra.co.uk.

6. Direction of travel

As Fictra grows, we will formalise environmental management more fully — engaging with sector-specific resources such as Creative Carbon Scotland — at the scale appropriate to our activity at that point. We recognise that what is proportionate for a sole-director organisation at this stage will need to expand as Fictra's team and activity expand.

7. What this policy is not

This policy is a statement of how Fictra operates, not a guarantee of carbon-neutral activity. Fictra is a digital publisher whose operations and value chain inevitably involve some emissions, and we do not currently maintain formal carbon accounting. We aim to reduce our impact steadily and report honestly on our progress, recognising that real reduction matters more than perfect measurement.