26
PRINT.IT
01732 759725
ENVIRONMENT
We give our
customers the
opportunity
to expand the
social benefits
of projects
through
bespoke
programmes
PrintIT:
Mark, please could you tell
us a little bit about CO2 Balance?
Mark Simpson:
co2balance is an
internationally recognized carbon
offsetting, carbon management
and carbon reduction company. We
were founded in 2003, originally
doing domestic, UK-based offsets,
which is how we met Toshiba.
Then, throughout the 2000s we
expanded into Africa. We now
operate in seven countries, doing
a variety of projects, which are
all on internationally recognized
standards, ranging from VCS
gold standard to CBM (Clean
Development Mechanism) credits.
PrintIT:
And how did you get
involved with Toshiba TEC?
Paul Chiplen:
When we were doing
UK woodland projects, a client
purchased a gift tree as part of
a Christmas present for Toshiba.
That planted a seed in the minds of
the Toshiba marketing team. They
realised that carbon reduction and
offsetting was an effective way to
brand Toshiba as a green company,
to do something good for the
environment, and to reach out and
show people how green marketing
can work for a business.
PrintIT:
Jeremy, please you can
tell us a little more about how the
Carbon Zero Scheme is working
for your customers.
Jeremy Spencer:
The Carbon
Zero scheme was introduced in
2009 and we’ve been working
with co2balance ever since. We
measure the carbon impact of
our products, from materials
procurement to construction to
delivery, and purchase credits to
the same level. We put these into
a variety of co2balance projects, so
when our products are delivered to
customers, they are carbon neutral.
PrintIT:
Paul, what are some of the
projects you are involved in?
Paul Chiplen:
The project that’s
been supported the most, right
from the very start, is the Kenyan
cooking stoves programme. In
Africa, people cook using three
stone fires – basically three stones
with a pot on top and firewood
underneath. The thermal efficiency
of this arrangement is very, very
poor. There is a lot of wasted
heat and significant use of wood,
contributing to deforestation, and
it’s very smoky.
We’ve developed a fuel-efficient
stove, which we make in a factory
in Mombasa and distribute free to
families. This halves the amount
of firewood needed to cook and
halves the amount of carbon
emitted – on average, each stove
saves 3 tons of carbon a year. You
get the environmental benefits of
reduced carbon emissions, less
deforestation and improved habitat
protection, and it is a quicker,
easier and cleaner way to cook,
so there is a huge impact on the
Last December,
PrintIT
participated in a roundtable discussion on carbon
offsetting with Jeremy Spencer, marketing director of Toshiba TEC UK,
Mark Simpson, managing director of co2balance and Paul Chiplen, sales and
marketing director of co2balance. Here we present edited highlights.
A video recording of the discussion can be seen on the
PrintIT
website.
Virtuous circle
lifestyle of people in Kenya.
The second most popular
initiative is the borehole project in
Uganda, through which we find and
fix broken boreholes. This provides
millions of gallons of clean water
to families in Uganda within 20
or 40 metres of where they live.
Families and children don’t have
to walk 3-4 kilometers and bring
back bucketfuls of water. Nor do
they have to boil water to clean it.
So there is an important carbon
saving, as well as improved quality
of life.
PrintIT:
Your projects all seem
to combine an environmental
benefit from carbon reduction and
a variety of social benefits that
come from that.
Jeremy Spencer:
Absolutely –
and we give our customers the
opportunity to expand those even
further through bespoke projects.
With the stoves, there is a health
benefit because they burn a lot
cleaner. And because they are
more efficient, children, who often
have responsibility for collecting
firewood, don’t need to gather so
much fuel, giving them more time
for education. Because schools in
Kenya educate as many children as
they can accommodate, one of the
projects we have for our customers
is the construction of big kitchens
that can house industrial stoves.
These enable schools to cook more
meals, which means that they can
bring more children into education.
Mark Simpson:
Can I just add to
that two further benefits: the lack
of particulates in the atmosphere
when people cook inside with
one of our stoves; and changed
patterns of wood collection. With
three stone fires, you effectively
chop down whole trees and feed
them into the fire. Because our
cook stoves are so efficient and
have only a relatively small opening,
you cook with branches rather than
trees. This means people tend to
take branches off but leave the
trees standing. It’s phenomenal to
The Microsoft
HoloLens:
preferred by IT
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Continued...
