A previous blog post we published for Earth Day sparked considerable interest from customers wanting to learn more about incorporating the Woodland Trust’s Carbon Capture paper logo onto their printed materials. Some were wrestling with the feeling that they should justify printed over electronic communications. Others had close links with the environment and wanted to boost their sustainability credentials.
In every case, the Carbon Capture paper programme provides a simple and effective way to say something positive about their brand and celebrate print's enduring impact.
what is carbon capture paper?
In 2011, Premier Paper (the UK's largest independent paper merchant) teamed up with the Woodland Trust to launch the Carbon Capture paper scheme.
Carbon Capture paper enables people to mitigate the CO2 generated by the production, storage, and distribution of the paper they use. Holywell Press pays a levy on each tonne of paper it buys from Premier, and this is passed directly to the Woodland Trust. This money funds woodland conservation and planting new native trees, which absorb carbon from the atmosphere.
2024 carbon capture impact
Last year, thanks to all our amazing customers, we enabled the Woodland Trust to plant 968 square metres of new UK native woodland and offset 38,741kg of CO2.
In total, from 2011 to the end of 2024, the Carbon Capture scheme has helped to:
– raise over £2m for the Woodland Trust
– plant 530,828 trees, and
– capture 122,792 tonnes of CO2.
As well as generating valuable funds for the Woodland Trust, the Carbon Capture scheme allows companies to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability. Premier Paper and the Woodland Trust organise regular volunteer days across the UK at which over 35,000 trees have been planted. They also carry out restoration projects to protect and restore the UK’s precious ancient woodland.
towards uk net-zero by 2050
As part of the UK’s Net-Zero strategy, the Committee for Climate Change (CCC) has recommended planting 30,000 hectares of trees per year from 2024. That would be a whopping 1.5 billion more trees by 2050, increasing woodland cover in the UK from 13% to around 17%.
The Woodland Trust wants the UK government to go even further and for woodland cover to reach 19%. But this goal is a big stretch.
In 2023-24, official planting statistics reported that 20,660 hectares of new woodland were created UK-wide (4,550 hectares in England, 640 in Wales, 430 in Northern Ireland, and the remainder in Scotland). Although this was up from 13,000 hectares UK-wide in 2022-23, we're still some way off the CCC target!
A great reason, perhaps, to get on board with the Carbon Capture scheme and help support the Woodland Trust’s ambitions.
Download the 2024 Impact Report.
If you have a question about The Woodland Trust’s Carbon Capture scheme, or want to learn more about sustainable printing, call 01865 242098 or contact us using the button below.