Carbon Neutral Plus

At Nexus Planning, we are committed to having a positive impact on our planet and society, and as such, we are proud to announce that we have achieved ‘carbon negative’ status – the first town planning consultancy to do so.

As part of our contribution to addressing the climate crisis we have assessed our carbon emissions and, working with Carbon Footprint, have decided to double-offset our emissions, earning Nexus the status of ‘Carbon Neutral Plus’ – the equivalent of carbon negative. So, we are now taking more carbon out from the atmosphere than we emit.

We’re the first town planning consultancy to achieve this status, and we’ve kept it up; in fact, in our second year we reduced our carbon emissions by 29.5% compared to the previous year.

We are not resting on our laurels and are continuing to explore ways of reducing our carbon footprint further, whilst working with partners on off-setting projects.

To-date, two carbon assessments have been undertaken, reviewing all trips made by our employees, as well as the CO2 emissions from the consultancy’s three offices in London, Manchester and Reading.  Carbon Footprint analyses the data and produces a report summarising the company’s emissions, our latest report concluded:

46.92

tonnes of CO2 emissions

Our total footprint during the assessment period, equivalent to 1.38 tonnes per employee.

51.1%

of our carbon footprint

was gas consumption for heating. Our most significant emission source.

14.2%

of our overall emissions

was the switch to home-working.

29.64%

of emissions are travel-related

with commuting by train making up 9.7% of transport emissions.

So what's next?

After establishing our 2019 carbon footprint we continue to explore ways to reduce the carbon we emit in delivering our consultancy services.

Our carbon negative project

To off-set the carbon that we currently produce we have chosen to contribute to an accredited tree planting and forest protection initiative. The project plants trees in the UK and also undertakes work to help protect the Amazon Rainforest.

For each tCO2e offset, one tree is planted in the UK – predominantly on school grounds and an additional tCO2e is offset through the Brazilian Amazon Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) project.  Nexus Planning’s contribution will offset 202 tCO2e and will enable 202 trees to be planted in the UK, offsetting carbon emissions, greening our environment and creating space for wildlife.

“We’re thrilled to have achieved carbon negative status. The environmental agenda is extremely important to Nexus and monitoring and reducing our carbon footprint is part of our contribution to addressing the climate challenge. We are also pleased to be giving back to schools by planting trees – education is a key sector for us as a business, so this is particularly close to our hearts. Looking ahead we will be exploring how we can further reduce our carbon footprint. Using Carbon Footprint’s report, we will be updating our company policy on carbon reduction and sustainable working practices as we all work towards a brighter future for our planet.”

— Roger Tustain, Managing Director

“Nexus Planning has taken leading steps to formally assess its carbon footprint and compensated for all emissions by supporting UK tree planting projects – in schools and nature reserves – also protecting trees in the Brazil Amazon Rainforest. As well as abating climate change, these projects actively support biodiversity.”

— Dr Wendy Buckley, Client Director at Carbon Footprint Ltd