How your business can support nature to remove carbon;

Committing to sustainability is about more than reducing the emissions our activities produce. It’s also about supporting projects that are working to remove carbon from the atmosphere. While there’s interesting carbon-storage tech in development, we were happy to find Forest Carbon in the decarbonisation zone at the expo. Nature-based projects like theirs give SMEs (and also families or individuals) the chance to support woodland creation and peatland restoration. Find out more about how your business can join a ‘Carbon Club’ and work with nature to remove carbon from the atmosphere here.

Pallets and eliminating wood waste from landfill

Linda Crichton (DEFRA) had a few things to say about pallets and they’re reuse at a panel on wood waste, chaired by the Wood Recyclers’ Association. As part of its plan to all but eliminate biodegradable waste from landfill by 2028, DEFRA is aiming for higher recovery rates of wood waste generally, but pallets in particular. They’re looking at the targets they set for pallet reuse and a framework to encourage more reuse. Using wood responsibly and sustainably is top of our agenda, so give us a shout if you have questions about our recycled pallets or what we do with the pallets we can’t mend.

SMEs and Net Zero

We also found some great tools for SMEs looking to reduce their carbon footprint at pace. We’ve picked out a few from The Carbon Trust:

• The Journey to Net Zero for SMEs helps you identify what will drive your business to reach Net Zero, walking you through key areas where you can cut emissions, from fleet to cooling.
• Their SME-oriented Carbon Footprint Calculator sets out what information you need to gather before you start to use the tool and then helps you work out how to reduce your energy use. (If you’re interested in calculating your individual or family carbon footprint, try WWF.)
• As the Carbon Trust says, Scope 3 emissions – from your upstream and downstream activities like buying goods and services – can make up 70-90% of your carbon footprint. If you’re not sure on the difference between Scope 1, 2 and Scope 3 emissions, this video is a good place to start. The Carbon Trust explains why Scope 3 matters and what you can do about it here.

We’re already planning for 2024 so we’ll see you there!