Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

Springer Nature is a scientific, technical, and medical publisher, not a financial institution. The company's core business involves disseminating research, educational, and professional information, not lending, insuring, moving, or storing money for consumers. Consequently, all KPIs related to 'Fair Money & Economic Opportunity' are not applicable to its operations. The evidence provided details the company's Open Access publishing model, internal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives for employees, and efforts to provide access to research content for scholars in low-income countries.

These activities, while promoting access to information and internal equity, do not fall under the scope of financial services or economic opportunity as defined by the rubric's KPIs, which specifically address financial products, lending practices, and customer financial data portability.

Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing

No relevant information or specific data points regarding SPG.XETRA's fair trade and ethical sourcing practices were found in the provided article.

The article explicitly states it is a placeholder and contains no extractable facts or quantitative data related to the specified metrics.

Kind to Animals

Springer Nature, as a publisher, does not engage in animal testing, animal agriculture, or the production of animal-derived products, making many KPIs not applicable. The company requires all experimental results on animal participants published in its journals to conform to authors’ local regulations and ethical standards, and encourages adherence to international standards.

Its Nature Portfolio journals will not consider manuscripts presenting studies that have employed anesthesia or euthanasia methods inconsistent with commonly accepted norms of veterinary best practice and reserve the right to reject manuscripts if research protocols are inconsistent with accepted animal research norms.

No War, No Weapons

Springer Nature follows the UN Global Compact, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards.

The company also states compliance with the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG). However, the evidence does not include third-party audits or specific implementation details across divisions for UNGP alignment, which would be required for a higher score. Similarly, for procurement, while the company has a Business Partner Code of Conduct and expects partners to meet legal standards and exceed them in human rights, labor conditions, and environmental protection, there is no specific evidence of adherence to humanitarian procurement standards or details on non-compliance rates, only a general commitment to high ethical standards.

Planet-Friendly Business

Springer Nature's total Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions (market-based) were 98,153 tCO2e in 2024, representing a 24.9% decline from 2023.

The company's science-based targets were validated by SBTi in 2023, committing to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 54.6% and Scope 3 emissions by 32.5% by 2032 (vs 2019), with a net-zero target by 2040 requiring a 90% absolute reduction across all scopes. In 2024, 98% of the company's electricity use in buildings came from renewable and clean sources. For capital expenditure, 0% of total CapEx was EU Taxonomy aligned in 2024. The company purchased 20,000 tonnes of Plan Vivo-certified carbon offsets and 32 tCO2e of J-Credits in 2024. Its Paper Policy prioritizes certified materials from responsibly managed forests, with 97.2% of paper used in products meeting this policy between January and September 2024. The company supports Taking Root’s CommuniTree project in Nicaragua. In 2024, Springer Nature conducted analysis to understand how resilient its operations are to climate change, which included climate scenario analysis. Springer Nature offers APC waivers and discounts for researchers in low- and lower-middle-income countries and piloted a country-tiered APC pricing initiative to support Open Access equity.

Respect for Cultures & Communities

In 2024, 90% of staff completed values and conduct training, which included ESG topics.

The company's 'Speak Up' system is available globally and allows concerns to be raised in any language. However, the Springer Nature Code of Conduct is only available in English, indicating limited local language incorporation for a key policy document.

Safe & Smart Tech

Springer Nature has no documented data breaches or unauthorized data use incidents. The company demonstrates an industry-leading AI ethics program, guided by five principles (Dignity, Respect and Minimising Harm; Fairness and Inclusivity; Transparency; Accountability; Privacy and Data Governance).

Human oversight is applied throughout the AI system lifecycle, including generative AI outputs in customer service, and audits are conducted where appropriate. The company explains the use of AI in its processes in accessible language and aggregates and anonymizes gender and ethnicity data before analysis. The company operates an excellent responsible vulnerability disclosure program, promising to respond to reports within two business days, handling them with strict confidentiality, and maintaining a "Security Researcher Hall of Fame" for disclosures from 2019 to 2025. Users have comprehensive rights to access, rectify, remove, restrict processing, withdraw consent, object to processing, and data portability, with account deletion requests resulting in data erasure within 30 days. The company demonstrates exemplary compliance with multiple international privacy regulations, including GDPR, LGPD, PIPEDA, and PIPL, and proactively addresses new requirements like CSRD and the AI Act. It champions digital rights, advocating for individuals' control over their personal data and protection from abusive practices. However, the company's authentication security relies on login and password details for account sign-in, with no mention of multi-factor authentication (MFA) options. While the company strives for data minimization, retention periods include 3 years for non-active accounts and customer service data, and 10 years for financial data (though processing is restricted after 2 years). Cybersecurity investment, encryption implementation, security training effectiveness, and security testing coverage are described as industry-standard or general, without specific metrics or advanced details. No specific privacy certifications or detailed processes for algorithmic harm remediation are provided.