Carbon Trust urges business leaders to ‘Act on CO2’ in support of Government climate action push

Print Email to a friend
Print Printer friendly
 
 
 
 
11 July 2007
The Carbon Trust is urging business leaders to cut carbon emissions within their own organisations in support of the efforts made by Government to kick-start individual action on CO2.

A new campaign will be launched by the Carbon Trust in July to stress the importance for businesses to cut carbon by saving energy. The Carbon Trust will also reach out to business groups this week to outline the range of tools, services and funding available to help them engage all their members in CO2 reduction.

The campaign is launched at a time of increasing interest from business wanting to act on cutting carbon and is designed to maintain the momentum. Last year the Carbon Trust received 35,000 calls to its advice line – an increase of 50% on the previous year, and visitors to the web site have increased by a fifth to over 450,000 in the same period. The carbon savings achieved since the Carbon Trust was set up in 2001 now total 10.8m tonnes of CO2. This is greater than the total annual emissions of Manchester, York and Newcastle combined. Last year alone the Carbon Trust helped its customers save up to 2m tonnes of CO2 and also identified financial cost-savings to customers of at least £485m.

Tom Delay, CEO of the Carbon Trust, said:

"Demand for our services is growing rapidly. This is welcome news as more and more businesses are looking beyond important energy cost savings and taking further action to cut the carbon footprint of their businesses.

We are committed to do more to help businesses of all sizes take decisive action and help lead the way to a low carbon economy.”


Rt. Hon Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said:

“We have a really big challenge: a small planet, a growing population, and finite resources. We need to ensure that we only take out what we can put back in. I hope the Act on CO2 campaign will help all of us to understand our impact on the climate and identify simple ways that we can make a difference.”


Businesses of all shapes and sizes benefit from the Carbon Trust’s tools and advice on carbon reduction. Recent customers include: Manchester United Limited, which has cut CO2 emissions by 18%; Marks & Spencer, which has seen an annual saving of 148,000 tonnes of CO2 and each square foot of sales space generating 45% less CO2 in 2006 than it did in 2002; the Boots Group, which has reported cost saving opportunities worth between £1 million and £2 million, and a carbon emission reduction of over 10,000 tonnes of CO2; and Lancashire’s Fort Vale Engineering, which has reduced electrical energy use by 18%, saved 308 tonnes CO2 and made a total cost saving of £54,628.

 
 
Footnotes
 

Editor’s Notes

For interviews, please contact the Carbon Trust Press Office on T: 020 7544 3100 or E-mail : carbontrust@fishburn-hedges.co.uk

The Carbon Trust

  • The Carbon Trust is a private company set up by government in response to the threat of climate change, to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy. The Carbon Trust works with UK business and the public sector to create practical business-focused solutions through its external work in five complementary areas: insights, solutions, innovations, enterprises and investments. Together these help to explain, deliver, develop, create and finance low carbon enterprise.
  • The Carbon Trust is funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR), the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and Invest NI.
  • For more information on the Carbon Trust visit www.carbontrust.co.uk or call the Carbon Trust Advice Line on 0800 085 2005.