Leading the way with Carbon Neutrality
Willow Alexander has achieved the Carbon Neutral International Standard and is now an active participant in the United Nations’ Climate Neutral Now Initiative. As the UK’s first carbon neutral premium garden design and maintenance service Willow Alexander plans to help the horticultural industry be greener by sharing its carbon neutral roadmap as part of a new franchise community.
To reach the Carbon Neutral International Standard, Willow Alexander calculated its footprint for 2021 across Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions with the support of One Carbon World. Its Scope 3 declarations included all organic and hard-structure materials required for design and landscaping projects. These still unavoidable emissions have been rebalanced through the retirement of Voluntary Carbon Credits from an afforestation project in Uruguay.
Achieving carbon neutrality is one step forward in the formalisation of reduction strategies that Willow Alexander began implementing in 2018. These included switching to a fleet of Electric Vehicles, introducing battery-operated tools, offsetting the personal emissions of its workforce and forming partnerships with like-minded suppliers as part of a Greener Planet promise. Participating in the UN Climate Neutral Now Initiative demonstrates an ongoing commitment towards measuring and reducing emissions and contributing to climate action. Willow Alexander is one of the few companies to achieve GOLD recognition in the Measure and Contribute steps of this Initiative, and its work with One Carbon World has proved insightful in helping to identify remaining emissions hotspots across its supply chain. Now, with a baseline year of reporting in place, reduction targets have been set for year 2 that align with science-based targets.
Samuel Collett, CEO at Willow Alexander said: “We’ve always been climate conscious and operated an ethos and service that we were proud to take to people’s homes. Becoming carbon neutral was the natural next step for us so we can share this roadmap with other gardeners and service providers and make it easier for customers to make a better choice. We’re proud to be part of the UN’s Climate Neutral Now Initiative and be working to further reduce our impact on our path to net-zero”.
Andrew Bowen, CEO of One Carbon World, added: ‘‘We are thrilled to confirm that Willow Alexander has achieved both the Carbon Neutral International Standard and the United Nations Climate Neutral Now Initiative participation, and we are also proud to announce that they are carbon neutral for all the footprint that was measured. This clearly shows how strongly they are committed to sustainability. Every emission they have offset directly supports reforestation programmes in South America. Well done on your journey to carbon neutrality!’’
