As a founding partner of Get Nature Positive and tying in with the Earth Day 2022 theme ‘invest in our planet’ we have partnered with Forest Carbon to invest in and restore peatlands.
Why we are investing in Peatlands?
Peatlands are waterlogged ecosystems made of decayed vegetation. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, undervaluing the economic contributions arising from maintaining peatlands in their natural state is the primary cause for the mismanagement of global peatlands. In addition, global peatland conservation and restoration suffer from chronic underinvestment. Current public and private funding directed towards peatlands falls well short of what is needed to save such valuable ecosystems. Investing in cost-effective tropical peatland conservation and restoration for carbon mitigation would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 800 million tonnes per year, requiring an annual investment of US$28.3 billion for conservation and US$11.7 billion more for restoration1.
Our partner Forest Carbon
Forest Carbon leads the way in developing woodland creation and peatland restoration projects for carbon capture and ecosystem services in the UK. They have been planting UK forests and restoring UK peatlands since 2006, and developed the UK’s first ever Woodland Carbon Code and Peatland Code projects.
We have an existing partnership with Forest Carbon having planted 5,500 trees at Talla and Gameshope, one for every CGI member (employee) in the Scottish Borders in 2019. Added to this are the 10,000 trees that CGI members have planted in their communities over the past 3 years.
Our projects
After researching a range of certified and verified carbon credit projects, we asked the CGI No Planet B volunteers to vote on their preferred projects. Those selected were:
UK Peatland Project
In the UK, 80% of peatlands are degraded and are currently emitting vast quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere with 5% of UK national emissions attributed to eroded peatlands. The project at the Talla Reservoir in Dumfries and Galloway restores peatlands and strengthens wildlife diversity. The land is owned and managed by the Borders Forest Trust and accompanies CGI’s reforestation project at Talla.
REDD+ Katingan Peatland Project in Indonesia
REDD+ is a framework created by the UNFCCC Conference of the parties (COP) and refers to ‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation’. The project protects and restores peatland ecosystems. In addition, the project delivers several other benefits, including decent work and economic growth for the community and clean water and sanitation. The project is certified by Verra - Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA).
Our carbon credit investments means CGI in the UK and Australia can now claim carbon neutrality for its FY21 operational emissions (offsetting scope 1, 2 and business travel scope 3 from the GHG Protocol). Carbon neutral is where the sum of the emissions produced is offset by natural carbon sinks and/or carbon credits.
Investments of this type contribute to our nature based agenda, which also includes our partnership with Project Seagrass and wider Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These investments are in addition to our emission reduction roadmap to achieve our 2026 UK science-based targets Learn more about our progress in our CGI IT UK Ltd FY21 Emission Report.
