Business branches out to help environment (From York Press)

Business branches out to help environment

10:19am Thursday 19th January 2012 in Business news

A NORTH YORKSHIRE business is doing its bit to help the environment by stumping up the cash to plant trees in Africa.

Career coaching business Workmaze has bought carbon credits from United Bank of Carbon (UBoC), an environmental charity set up by Bettys & Taylors Group, the University of Leeds and Deloitte.

Harrogate-based Workmaze has offset its carbon footprint by supporting a small, rural community development project in Malawi, enabling farmers to plant trees on their farms in a heavily deforested area.

Jane Barrett, of Workmaze, said: “The nature of our work means that our consultants do travel the world and we appreciate that there are very positive business benefits to be gained by taking positive action to offset our carbon emissions.”

Jonathan Wild, trustee of UBoC and former chairman and chief executive of Bettys & Taylors Group, said: “Jane started her career as one of my shop assistants at Bettys. Twenty years later, she has built a fabulous international consultancy business. It’s wonderful to be working together again, bringing strong business and social leadership together to impact in parts of the world where trees are not just a nice-to-have amenity, but a matter of life and death.”