Colas Rail UK Reforest North York Moor National Park

One of the eight Colas Rail CSR principles is Climate Change and Biodiversity and embedded within this principle is:

• reducing our carbon emissions and
• biodiversity net-gain

Colas Rail Group have set a target for a 30% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and additionally have a commitment for the capture and storage of carbon.

In 2020, Colas Rail Group pledged to plant 10 trees for each new recruit into the business and having recruited 1000 staff across the six countries (England, Morocco, Indonesia, France, Belgium & Ivory Coast) each country was then allocated 2000 trees for a reforesting project.

The project here in the UK is being managed by Reforest’Action who select forestry projects, finance and monitor them in close collaboration with a vast network of technical partners in the field. Our trees have been planted in the North York Moor National Park near to Great Ayton in North Yorkshire, a well-known hill in Yorkshire and the North East of England, offering a landscape popular among local residents and walkers.

The multiple benefits of the project will be:

• The diversification will help the massif resist climatic and biological hazards
• The newly planted trees will store carbon and thus slow down global warming
• On a global scale, the implementation of the project will maintain a continuity and help preserve the forest cover in this protected natural area
• 2000 trees have meant storage of 300 tons of carbon (one tree stores about 150kg of CO2 over 30 years) and potential shelter for 6000 animals once established      

It is hoped that Colas Rail staff may be able to visit the site to see the progress (the trees are currently only 30 – 40 cm).