30/04/11 Bristol charity FareShare benefits from Eunomia carbon offsetting scheme

Eunomia Research & Consulting has presented community food network charity FareShare with a cheque for £3,600 as part of its carbon emissions offsetting fund.  

Eunomia, a Bristol-based environmental consultancy working in the areas of waste management, low carbon energy, resource efficiency and climate change adaptation, began recording its carbon emissions in April 2008. This includes journeys taken by staff on business, hotel stays and gas and electricity use at its offices on Queen Square. A carbon ‘valuation’ is then provided for each of these activities before a ‘damage’ cost per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent is then applied.  

The aim of this activity is to make the company accountable and to mitigate its impact upon climate change. Identification of these emissions also allows Eunomia to see where behaviour might be changed such that further reductions can be made.

Director and founder of Eunomia, Dr Dominic Hogg, said:  

“We spend our working lives advising others on how to improve the environment and so it is important that we ‘walk the talk’. The company has always sought to minimise its carbon emissions, including innovative policies such as company Bromptons (folding bikes) available to all employees. The process of recording our carbon emissions, monetising the impacts and donating that money to a charity from our bottom line profit, provides us with a benchmark from which we can make further improvements. We are also delighted to be able to support the fantastic work that FareShare are doing.”

FareShare is a national UK charity with a regional operation based in Bristol. The organisation supports communities to relieve food poverty and reduce food waste, thereby reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. These issues are addressed by providing quality surplus food from the food and drink industry to organisations working with disadvantaged people in the community. In doing so training and education is provided around the essential life skills of safe food preparation and nutrition, and warehouse employability training.  

FareShare Project Manager Jacqui Reeves thanked Eunomia for their generous donation:

“We are very grateful to Eunomia as this money will help us to continue our work in helping the least well off and vulnerable in the Bristol area. It is also appropriate that the carbon fund donated by Eunomia is being used to save food from disposal in landfills which would result in substantial carbon emissions.”

Eunomia’s carbon offset scheme is an ongoing initiative. To learn more about the work of FareShare visit: http://www.fareshare.org.uk

ENDS

Media Contact:
Emmeline Dacke
Eunomia Research & Consulting
37 Queen Square, Bristol, BS1 4QS
Office: +44 (0)117 917 2250
emmeline.dacke@eunomia.co.uk
www.eunomia.co.uk


Notes to Editors:

• The carbon valuation, or ‘damage cost’, that Eunomia applies to its carbon emissions is more than five times the current traded value of carbon. The artificially low value of traded carbon is one of the principal reasons why Eunomia chooses not to use market based schemes to offset its carbon emissions.
  
• For each tonne of food waste avoided in this way, the benefits may be as high as five tonnes of CO₂ avoided.