Highland tourism group Visit Inverness Loch Ness (VILN) has become first carbon neutral Business Improvement District (BID) in the UK
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Visit Inverness Loch Ness says it has completely offset its emissions for 2019-2021.
The tourism business improvement district (BID) – one of 330 BIDS in the UK – has established two corporate groves with charity Trees for Life.
Trees have been planted in the grove already and the organisation will continue to plant a tree every time VILN produces a tonne of C02.
The forward-looking organisation, which also signed two important international agreements in 2021 – the Glasgow Declaration Climate Action in Tourism, launched during COP26, and Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency – plans to go even further in its ambitions to be a truly sustainable and carbon neutral organisation.
VILN destination development manager Bryony Beck, who has been instrumental in developing the TBID’s sustainability strategy, said: “As a signatory, we commit to deliver climate action plans within 12 months and implement them accordingly.”
VILN has also developed a carbon tracker which can be used to monitor the organisation’s carbon footprint on a monthly basis.
The tracker will be a central tool going forward to trigger the implementation of other carbon neutral measures such as using renewable energy in addition to the continued programme of tree planting.
VILN CEO Michael Golding said: “This is a very proud moment
“As a long-standing and iconic tourist destination, we take our environmental responsibility extremely seriously.
“This is an important milestone, and we are determined to continue to work towards maintaining this carbon neutral status and indeed leading by example and supporting our member businesses on their individual paths towards carbon neutrality.”
Chris Turner, chief executive of British BID, said: “It is really terrific that Visit Inverness Loch Ness is so advanced in responding to some of these matters and to achieve carbon neutrality at such an early stage is an amazing achievement.”