UK’s first community carbon share spotlights rewilding’s community benefits - Trees for Life
Two community groups in the Scottish Highlands have together received over £23,000 from the UK’s first community carbon share, as part of Britain’s biggest rewilding project.
The funds have been raised by charity Trees for Life selling ‘carbon units’ from its restoration of carbon-absorbing natural habitats at its acclaimed Dundreggan rewilding estate in Glenmoriston near Loch Ness.
The initiative is part of Affric Highlands, a community-focused rewilding project to create a vast nature recovery area of over half a million acres stretching from Loch Ness to Scotland’s west coast – boosting biodiversity, addressing climate breakdown and benefiting the local economy.
Each carbon unit represents a tonne of atmospheric carbon soaked up through a restored native woodland called Allt Ruadh, where Trees for Life has planted over 250,000 trees including Scots pine, downy birch, eared willow, hazel, aspen, bird cherry and oak.
The units are being sold to organisations already taking action to reduce their carbon footprints to as close to zero as possible, but which want to offset unavoidable emissions as they work towards this goal.
“This is a fantastic example of how responsible carbon offsetting can bring much-needed investment into rural areas, while helping reduce carbon emissions and restoring nature. It shows how landowners can help create, and benefit from, enriched landscapes, while supporting communities,” said Tim Perkins from the West Glenmoriston Community Company, one of the two groups to benefit.
Over a third of the income generated from the carbon units is being shared with the two community groups, which are working to improve the Glenmoriston area for local people and visitors. The rest of the funds will go towards Trees for Life’s rewilding work.
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Posted On: 08/04/2022