In these straitened times what sort of business pays for a woodland's worth of carbon-trapping trees (when no law says they must)?
Eco-responsible ones, ones who know the fight against pollution must keep going even when the going gets tough, companies like The Green Insurance Company, Marks and Spencer, Stagecoach, Kwikfit, Mears Group, BWOC and others.
Our partners enjoy restoring native woodlands to bare British hills, replacing trees destroyed over the centuries. Trees eat dust and pollution, they tame the wind, keep the rivers healthy, freshen the air and trap carbon in their wood and leaves and roots. They provide succour for other flora - and fauna (including us). And they're easy on the eye.
A good carbon management plan starts with emissions avoidance but it shouldn't end there. Everything we do to cut emissions and save energy is worthwhile. But unlike many other 'green' remedies - made in factories, anchored with concrete and shipped around the world - trees cause no collateral damage.
Whether climate change is man-made or not, we still have to deal with pollution itself. Even with the very best that science, technology and politics can offer we are facing a long-term challenge with no quick fix.
Each time one of our partners creates a new native woodland they're treating us to a better environment, now and far off into the future. What a wise and pleasant way to save the world.
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THE WOODLAND CARBON CODE
Once the UK Forestry Commission's Woodland Carbon Code goes live later this year we should see a significant increase in the creation of new native woodlands.
This new government-backed code of practice for woodland carbon schemes will give businesses the opportunity to include UK tree planting as part of their emissions reduction activity. As well as stimulating planting, the revised greenhouse gas reporting guidance will guarantee the quality, suitability and protection of carbon-related British woodland schemes. For more:
Way up north, in the river valleys and wild and woolly highlands of Strathspey, plans are afoot to let Britain's own Big Five roam free again in their rightful homelands. Tied in with this project are several new Forest Carbon brokered afforestation schemes.
(more soon)
The Read Report
Published at the end of last year a first-of-its-kind report on the role of UK forestry in climate change mitigation says the UK needs to step up its rate of woodland creation by 200%.
The independent expert panel calculates that 10% of British greenhouse gas emissions could be locked up if just another 4% of our bare land were put under forestry over the next 40 years.
(right)
Forest Carbon's Steve Prior at the EU 'Wild Europe' Conference in Prague last year, explaining how carbon funding might be utilised to create or protect existing wildlands across the Continent.
Beating the Loggers
Subsequently, Steve joined a fact finding mission to Romania for the European Nature Trust - to assess the potential for using carbon funding as a tool to preserve native forests vital for wild animals and the environment. Up against logging interests, the financial and political negotiations can be complicated.
Watch this space!
(right)
Addicted! The Green Insurance Company
are due to plant their MILLIONTH TREE next month. Spread across 18 sites in Scotland, England and Wales these trees represent over 300 000 tonnes of locked-in CO2 - equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 150 000 cars. TGIC's staff and customers will be celebrating this milestone in June...
(left)
This isn't just any tree. This is an M & S tree - the first
of 40 000 new M & S trees, planted by the Marks and Spencer Home Division.
So now you know: whenever you see an M & S van on the road doing its job, it's also responsible for a permanent woodland of wild trees in Northumberland.
(above) At the launching of the M & S Northumberland.scheme.
(above)
9.5 new hectares of native woodland in Lockerbie, planted by
Mears Group.
Need to say 'thank you' or 'happy birthday' to someone? You could send them a Forest Carbon
Gift Tree Card...
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