London Gatwick Airport has announced two new Wildlife Trust partnerships, which entail an investment of ~$1.3 million (£1 million) in nature-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR).
Under the partnerships, Gatwick Airport Limited (GAL) is supporting the work of the Kent and Somerset Wildlife Trusts focused on transforming degraded former agricultural land into species-rich habitats over the coming years.
Building on its existing biodiversity support, which has been awarded the Wildlife Trust Biodiversity Benchmark for the past 11 years, the airport is now embarking on the two new partnerships while marking the halfway point in its Decade of Change sustainability strategy.
The selected projects have been facilitated by theWilder Carbon nonprofit, which pairs sustainability-oriented companies with wildlife organizations developing high-quality environmental projects.
With these two partnerships, GAL is investing in the removal of 10,000 tonnes of CO2e via the Wilder Carbon initiatives at Ironhurst Valley Nature Reserve in Kent and Honeygar Farm in Somerset.
This volume of carbon removal will be applied towards the residual CO2 emissions generated by the airport operator between 2030 and 2039, which cannot be eliminated.
According to Gatwick Airport, the CDR volume will cover a significant proportion of what’s left after the airport operator has successfully delivered an approximately $336 million (£250 million) capital program to reduce CO2 emissions as far as possible.
The Ironhurst Valley Nature Reserve project is transforming arable and pasture land into a mix of species-rich grassland, wet floodplain meadows, extensions to the lowland mixed deciduous woodland, scrub, and scrubby wood pasture.
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The Honeygar Farm in Somerset, on the other hand, is restoring a territory of 80ha on a former dairy farm to grazing marsh and wetlands. “This partnership will help restore habitats and keep carbon secured in healthy peat at Honeygar for generations to come, delivering lasting benefits for climate and wildlife in Somerset,” said Georgia Dent, CEO at Somerset Wildlife Trust.
Mark Edwards, Head of Sustainability at London Gatwick, commented, “We have an unwavering commitment to sustainability and to achieving our aim of being net zero for emissions under our direct control by 2030. Collaborating with Wilder Carbon offered us the opportunity to support local, high-integrity, nature-based projects that offered considerable benefits in addition to carbon removal.”
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