We are delighted to have been awarded CarbonNeutral® flights certification from Natural Capital Partners. This certification verifies that we have successfully offset a total footprint of 140 tonnes of carbon emissions associated with our 2019 business-related air travel, through the use of high quality carbon credits that meet the requirements of The CarbonNeutral Protocol.
The nature of our business means that air travel is often a necessity. To compensate for our company flight emissions, we have chosen to support low carbon development through a dedicated renewable energy project – Theni Wind Power.
About the project
Located in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, this project consists of two wind farms with a total capacity of 74.25 MW, delivering approximately 100,000 MWh of clean renewable electricity to the southern regional grid each year. The country’s rapid population growth has meant increasing pressure on electricity generating capacity, 70% of which is currently supplied by fossil fuels. Renewable energy projects such as this are vital to support India overcome its energy shortage, while reducing carbon emissions.
Benefits
In addition to delivering approximately 350,000 tonnes of emissions reductions annually, the project delivers a number of other sustainable development benefits. These include:
- Affordable and clean energy: by generating approximately 100,000 MWh of renewable electricity annually, the project displaces electricity which would have otherwise been drawn primarily from fossil fuel power stations.
- Decent work and economic growth: the project has contributed to the local economy and livelihood of residents through the creation of jobs. Approximately 35 employees are currently working in full time operational roles and another 15 for field security. During development, 10 employees were required for planning and there were over 100 people working in construction
In addition to this, we continue to take steps internally as a business to reduce our carbon footprint in the following ways:
- Our recent office move provides state-of-the-art VC facilities, reducing our need to travel
- We recycle and use recycled goods wherever possible
- Our environmental policy promotes a paperless office
- We offer a cycle-to-work scheme for all employees
- We use a local supply chain on procurement of goods and services where possible
We will continue to expand into offsetting other parts of our business, in line with our commitment to achieving net zero.
You can find out more about how to get involved in the Natural Capital Partners Carbon Neutral scheme here.
