Carbon offsetting project boosts BW’s net zero bid

A picturesque corner of the Lake District is even greener now thanks to an environmental project which is being supported by Barnett Waddingham. The scheme has involved the planting of 120,000 willow trees at a 14-acre site at Grizebeck to the south of Coniston Water.

As part of BW’s net zero pledge and wider sustainability strategy, the organisation has invested in the carbon offsetting programme by working with My Carbon Plan and through making a donation to voluntarily offset 1,684 tonnes of C02e.

This initiative offsets the emissions relating to Scope 1 and Scope 2 – direct emissions from owned or controlled sources and indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy – as well as some Scope 3 emissions (which result from activities which are not owned or controlled by BW but which we impact on in our value chain).

The carbon offsetting for this project includes the emissions from BW’s office space and our travel predominantly.

BW is going beyond our stated net zero target. Our pledge to be Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon neutral from 2021 has been surpassed after we identified the largest source of emissions for firms like ours was commuter travel.

The organisation has captured this information and offset this amount as well resulting in a total offset amount twice the size of our Scope 1 and Scope 2 totals.

The funding provided for the Lake District project supports the planting and maintenance costs of the willow trees to the first harvest (year four). Thereafter the proceeds from the sale of the willow will fund the landowner’s ongoing maintenance costs and provide profits for them.

Over the project life cycle the willow should enable the offset of 2,500+ tonnes of C02e (20.68 tonnes per hectare per year).

Scott Eason, Lead Sustainability Partner at BW, said; “Our promise to do the right thing is at the heart of our carbon offsetting initiative and our wider sustainability strategy. For BW, sustainability is about focusing on meeting the needs of the present, without compromising future generations. We pledge to operate a sustainable business both now and for the long-term. We will be continually reviewing this initiative with our partner, My Carbon Plan, to ensure the project is sustainable now and in to the future.”