Chesterfield company goes carbon neutral by planting over 500 trees across Africa

A finance company based in Chesterfield has started 2022 as a carbon neutral organisation after planting over 500 trees in four African countries.
By Tom Hardwick
Published 27th Jan 2022, 14:00 BST

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Bridge Help, a commercial bridging finance company, has managed to offset the entire carbon footprint of its workforce - from flights and car journeys to energy usage both at work and home.

In just two months, they have directly funded the planting of 508 trees across Madagascar, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique, as well as achieving a reduction in 34.44 tonnes of CO2.

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The company’s journey to carbon neutral was guided by Ecologi- an organisation which helps businesses and individuals fund impactful climate solutions, plant trees, analyse carbon footprints and achieve carbon neutrality.

Katie Snodden, Chris Sellars and Phoebe Sellars of Bridge Help, who have announced their move to carbon neutrality.Katie Snodden, Chris Sellars and Phoebe Sellars of Bridge Help, who have announced their move to carbon neutrality.
Katie Snodden, Chris Sellars and Phoebe Sellars of Bridge Help, who have announced their move to carbon neutrality.

Chris Sellars, Chief Executive of Bridge Help, said: “Prior to signing up to Ecologi, we made small steps in becoming a carbon neutral business. However, this has now been accelerated.

“What myself and the team particularly like about Ecologi is that we are all offsetting our personal carbon output 24/7, whether we are working or not. It is something the whole team is passionate about and we’ll be taking further steps throughout 2022 and beyond to reduce our impact on the environment.

“We’re a growing business and it’s important to us all that our impact on the environment does not also increase. As we welcome new members to the team, they’ll be automatically signed up to Ecologi.”

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Every member of the Bridge Help team is registered with Ecologi and has carbon credits assigned according to their lifestyle. By signing up, the Bridge Help team is directly funding high-impact climate solutions and supporting the town’s ambition to become a carbon neutral borough by 2050.

Companies and organisations signed up to Ecologi have, to date, funded the planting of 31,450,527 trees. This has reduced 1,239,380 tonnes of CO2, in a drive to bring greenhouse gas emissions in the UK to net zero by 2050.

Despite the economic slowdown due to the pandemic, climate change is still a pressing issue- the highest ever atmospheric CO2 concentration (419 parts per million) was recorded in June 2021, and seven of the warmest years on record have all occurred since 2014.

More information about Ecologi can be found here.

Related topics:ChesterfieldCO2Uganda