York Building Firm Supports Ugandan Environmental Project
Shepherd Building Group in York has joined forces with Yorkshire-based charity, United Bank of Carbon (UBoC), to support a two year environmental protection and community development project in Uganda.
UBoC enables businesses to play a part in tackling climate change by matching them with verified rainforest projects from around the world. The project chosen by Shepherd Group, ‘Trees for Global Benefits,’ is run by aUgandan organization, Ecotrust, and will enable local farmers to plant trees on their land. The growth of the trees will be monitored, enabling the amount of carbon stored in the new trees to be calculated, resulting in carbon credits which Shepherd Group can offset against its carbon footprint.
The project will support some of the poorest communities in Uganda, helping them to become more self sufficient whilst protecting local biodiversity. In the first year, the project will offset more than 2,500
tonnes of carbon dioxide, certified against the Plan Vivo system which was established in 1994.
UBoC was founded by Bettys and Taylors Group, the University of Leeds and Deloitte. It comprises the largest bank of verified rainforest protection projects in the world. Businesses are able to choose a specific environmental project to partner which has synergies with their own organisation, providing an easy and reliable route to implementing an effective corporate social responsibility programme.
Patrick Shepherd, Deputy Chairman of Shepherd Group, said: “As a York-based organisation, we tend to direct our community support budget to organisations and projects which benefit directly the area where the majority of our employees live and work, but this is a worldwide issue that affects us all. We are very pleased to join with Bettys and Taylors, one of our most respected fellow Yorkshire family-owned businesses in supporting this admirable initiative.”
Piers Forster, trustee of UBoC and Professor of Climate Change at the University of Leeds, said: “The purpose of UBoC is to provide a link between the corporate world and rainforest protection. Our experts in the School of Earth and Environment have been rigorously screening projects over the last three years and we now have a bank of over 70 viable environmental projects who we are seeking to partner with
businesses.
“Shepherd Group is a company with vision and has supported the UBoC initiative since our early days. It is great that they have extended their support by adopting their own project and we hope it will encourage more local businesses to work with us to protect rainforests and have a real impact on climate change.”
