March 4, 2021
New woodlands are being created in the UK with the help of Mid Wales-based Invertek Drives through the Forest Carbon project to offset its carbon footprint. The company, which manufactures variable frequency drives (VFD) at its global headquarters at Welshpool, Powys, has worked with a local printing company to purchase ‘carbon balancing’ paper for all of its in-house printers, including the printing of its products’ handbooks.
Forest Carbon plants woodlands for companies wanting to mitigate the impact of their greenhouse emissions, as well as making a contribution to wider environmental benefits. It is the only UK-based carbon standard and is supported by the government.
The woodlands are planted at locations where they would not otherwise be commercially viable. The paper purchased by Invertek Drives is currently helping plant trees on land near Carlisle, Cumbria.
The new woodlands will not only help capture CO2, but also provide benefits for local biodiversity, landscape, flood management, water quality and recreation.
Referring to companies like Invertek Drives, Carbon Forest states: “These are companies who already avoid and reduce their emissions as far as they can and want to finish the job by capturing the remaining balance.”
Continually reducing carbon footprint
John Evans of Invertek Drives said: “We’re continually seeking to improve our environmental performance and to cut our carbon footprint. We’ve already implemented a range of systems that have reduced our carbon emissions
.“These range from investing in photovoltaic arrays on the roof of our manufacturing facility for solar energy; regenerating electricity off our Global Assembly Cells in the assembly process; increased use of electric vehicles and introducing EV charging points on site.”
The company has already reduced the amount of paper use in the business, including the introduction of in-house printing of its product handbooks.
“The new process only prints a handbook for each VFD manufactured on the assembly line. This means we don’t have to bulk print in advance, saving wastage and costs,” added John.
Invertek’s Optidrive VFDs reduce energy usage and costs along with associated emissions by controlling motors and pumps more efficiently.
Invertek Drives is sourcing the paper through Welshpool Printing Group who advised on the Carbon Forest scheme.
Carbon balancing directly makes a positive difference to the environment
“We’re pleased that by introducing a carbon balancing process we are directly making a positive difference to our environment, in addition to the benefits of our own drives products in reducing the use of energy and emissions in applications globally,” said John.
Carbon Forest has so far planted more than 9.5 million trees in 172 new woodlands in the UK since 2006.
Its partners’ projects are removing 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 from the global atmosphere.
The woodlands it plants have to be independently audited and certified under the UK Woodland Carbon Code, a government-backed standard that offers corporate partners assurance about the high quality of their carbon investment.
In a statement, Carbon Forest said: “In addition to capturing CO2 a UK woodland also delivers other local and tangible benefits for biodiversity, landscape, flood management, water quality and recreation.
“Businesses committing to improve the fabric of the planet and the country in this way report only positive outcomes from staff, customers and other stakeholders.”
