Taylors of Harrogate becomes carbon neutral after five-year campaign to reduce emissions

The company behind Yorkshire Tea has announced that all the brand’s products have now become carbon neutral after a five-year campaign to achieve the landmark.

Taylors of Harrogate, which launched the famous tea in 1977, embarked on the ambitious project to slash emissions in its operations in the UK, while also working with its international supply chain.

The firm faced a major challenge to offset carbon emissions that run to 48,500 tonnes every year – accentuated by the need to source its high quality ingredients from often remote farming communities across the globe.

The efforts have seen a pioneering tree-planting programme in Kenya, as well as distributing fuel efficient cookstoves to smallholder farmers in Malawi.

Simon Hotchkin, the head of sustainable development at Taylors of Harrogate, has helped oversee the eco-friendly projects which he claimed have been a highlight in his 21-year career in the tea industry.

He said the projects have also improved the livelihoods of farmers, and added: “We could easily have bought carbon credits from existing programmes, but we decided to create new projects that would provide long-term benefits to tea producers.

“We’re passionate about making a positive difference in the world and this milestone is one of many we have in our sights, we are far from done.”

Yorkshire Tea worked with the International Small Group and Tree Planting Programme - which is known by the abbreviation of TIST - to encourage tea farmers to plant fruit and nut trees on their smallholdings.

The trees soak up carbon, but also provide valuable secondary incomes, along with shade and food. The project has so far over involved 4,000 tea farmers and seen more than 1.5m trees planted in the Mount Kenya region.

The scheme in Malawi has seen the distribution of the cookstoves, which use less fuel and reduce indoor air pollution while burning just as hot. The project contributes to balancing the carbon footprint by ensuring trees are preserved and avoiding deforestation.

As well as carbon offsetting within the supply chain, Yorkshire Tea has made efforts to reduce its emissions overall.

Projects include all gas and electricity at its Harrogate headquarters coming from renewable sources, and solar panels have been introduced which generate enough energy to power 80 homes in the UK for a year.

Rainwater collection technology has been installed for flushing toilets and the company has committed to ensuring none of its waste ends up in landfill sites.

Taylors is also working with the Kenyan Tea Development Agency to assess energy efficiency in factories and to establish ways of making savings.

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