The National Trust C-Strategy (i)
The National Trust’s approach to carbon ...
Rob Jarman, Director of Sustainability for the National Trust, presented the 'The National Trust’s approach to carbon stewardship and sustainability'. He pointed out that the National Trust believes in Sustainability, rather than Sustainable Development which depends on growth.
He declared: 'We support One-Planet living. Carbon Stewardship is a major aspect of sustainablilty. We are working to reduce our use of fossil fuels, to waste less, to ‘grow our own’ food and timber and energy and water, to use renewable materials, to husband our soils, and to revitalise our wetlands and peatlands. Our carbon emissions derive from our use of fossil fuel-derived energy and materials; from our building management, and from our land management. These have been roughly quantified, but are diverse in nature and scale, and vary from region to region. Our carbon resources lie in our land – peats, other soils, woodlands, ancient trees and biomass – in the historic environment as well as in the natural environment; and in our buildings and artefacts.'
The Trust has been running a wide range of practical and innovative projects to reduce carbon emissions and improve the state of our carbon resources. These include:
- our Energy Strategy,
- developing renewable energy
- peatland restoration,
- a Soil Protection policy and improving soil management
- Water Policy; water saving, land management to improve water quality
- a woodland inventory, forestry policies, use of our own wood for timber and biofuels
- protection of ancient trees in parklands and woods
- building materials specifications and design guides
- conversions of listed buildings with energy-saving technology
- licensing and procurement criteria.
The National Trust’s concepts of self reliance are:
- use less. Make and grow,
- De-centralise. ‘Go Local’. This applies in many aspects of work, from meter-reading and energy generation, to local water supplies.
- 'Each National Trust property is an island’. We aim to discover what comes in and out,
- contribute to local, regional and national needs and solutions.
The project started in 2010 and was finished in 2012.