As National Trust member really enjoyed reading this piece by the new(ish) Director General laying out intentions for the coming years - think they are quite right that such a huge organisation should be taking a lead in this way
There’s some commitments here I love!
They give me such faith that we together can do it. We now need others to follow…
We’ll be carbon neutral by 2030
The first is that the National Trust will achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030. Climate change is causing a crisis. From floods to fires, nature is in peril. Not only do we have an ambition to reach net zero, we have a clear plan of how we are going to get there, in ten years. Through people and through places, many, many hands will help us.
At the heart of our plan are people like Kait. She’s been a ranger with us in the Peak District for nearly ten years. Every week, in all weathers, she takes a team of willing volunteers onto the moors to plant thousands of tiny sphagnum moss plugs. These little plugs store water, bind the bog and capture carbon, locking it underground. Their efforts mean that about 13 million tonnes of carbon safely stored underground in the Peak District. That’s a year’s worth of carbon emissions from Sheffield.
Our plan also involves building on our decision last year to disinvest from fossil fuel companies, by reducing our own energy use further. We will do this by continuing to switch to renewable energy sources, reducing emissions from our farmed and let estate and managing our supply chain to tighter carbon targets. A combination of all of these things will enable us to reach at least net zero by 2030.
We’ll plant 20 million trees in 10 years
The second action we will take is to create more woodlands. The National Trust, on behalf of the entire nation, is a significant landowner. Of the 250,000 hectares of land we own, approximately 10 per cent is woodland. We will increase that 10 per cent to 17 per cent over the next decade. That means planting and establishing 20 million trees in 10 years.