Sutton-based logistics firm Mitchells of Mansfield, a member of Palletways UK, has taken the next significant step on its decarbonisation journey with the launch of customer-facing initiative Carbon Co-op.

It builds on the company’s ongoing partnership with climate action platform and B Corp social enterprise Ecologi.

Once they join the Carbon Co-op, businesses working with Mitchells of Mansfield will fund the offsetting of emissions generated from each of their consignments by paying a small additional fee.

The fee is calculated by the travelling distance of each consignment and will pay towards climate-friendly projects around the world through Ecologi, which works with climate projects worldwide that align with UN sustainable development goals.

Each business that signs up will join a community virtual forest through Ecologi, where they can track key data, such as the CO2 that has been avoided and the number of trees planted as part of the initiative. As a welcome gift to each customer that join its Carbon Co-op initiative, Mitchells of Mansfield will fund the planting of 50 trees.

Since the launch of the Carbon Co-op, so far members have collectively funded 782 trees and avoided 10 tons of CO2 — equivalent to eight long-haul flights or 24,810 miles driven in a car. Mitchells of Mansfield has also funded the planting of a further 175 trees and the offsetting of 32.7 tonnes of emissions on behalf of its Carbon Co-op members.

Richard Montgomery, managing director of Mitchells of Mansfield, said: “We recognise that, while many of our customers want to make greener choices, they can be stretched between other responsibilities and so this isn’t always achievable.

“With the launch of our Carbon Co-op, we are taking on the burden of reducing carbon emissions for businesses using our services. This way, they can have peace of mind that their products are not only being transported from A to B safely, but also more sustainably.

“To take this one step further, we are also running a monthly Carbon Free Day, on which we will fund the offsetting of all our customers’ CO2 and gift it back to them.”

Mitchells of Mansfield first partnered with Ecologi last year to develop a roadmap to become a climate positive company by 2027. The plan involves the firm offsetting its annual emissions by funding climate projects and tree planting.

Richard said he was keen to take action when he saw Palletways UK had teamed up with Ecologi to heighten its own corporate social responsibility and actively engage with carbon reduction projects and tree planting.

The progress of the newly-launched initiative can be tracked on the Carbon Co-op’s community virtual forest. To view Mitchells of Mansfield’s progress and goals you can visit its Ecologi virtual forest . To view Palletways UK’s progress and goals go to Palletways’ virtual forest .

So far, Mitchells of Mansfield has funded 2,000 trees and avoided 532.5 tons of CO2 — equivalent to 409 long haul flights or 1,321,133 miles driven in a car.
Mitchells of Mansfield is one of more than 120 depots that are part of the Palletways UK network.