Phoenix Energy volunteers have been providing people power for a series of environmental action days to support their environmental partner, The Conservation Volunteers.
The Phoenix volunteers helped plant the first of 8,000 new native species trees, one for every new customer connection to the Phoenix Energy network, to be planted this year as a result of the new partnership.
Fuelling biodiversity and providing new habitats to offer sustainability for a range of species, the Phoenix team planted over 300 native tree saplings into their early years home at The Conservation Volunteers new tree nursery based in Cultra.
The volunteer action days are one element of the environmental partnership which will also see a series of environmental education online sessions delivered to provide knowledge on the value of native species and to encourage children and families to get involved in tree planting, biodiversity enhancement and conservation activities in their local community.
Speaking about the partnership, Dianne Keys, Operations Leader at The Conservation Volunteers said: “Tree planting is seen as one of the biggest and affordable ways of taking CO2, out of the atmosphere and helping to tackle the climate crisis. With Northern Ireland being the least wooded area in the UK we welcome the support from Phoenix Energy to help increase our tree coverage.
“Alongside our partners at Phoenix, we are keen to involve as many people as possible and encourage individuals, local gardening groups and schools to contact us if we can help them create or improve green spaces in their communities as a result of this exciting partnership.”
Phoenix Energy has a strong commitment to environmental responsibility, with natural gas users across Northern Ireland making immediate reductions to their household carbon emissions when they switch to natural gas with high efficiency systems from older oil boilers.
The partnership with The Conservation Volunteers is the latest initiative from Phoenix Energy on its climate action programme, having recently confirmed its support for a research project, led by the Centre for Advanced Sustainable Energy (CASE), to quantify the opportunity to harness biomethane from agricultural waste for injection to the natural gas infrastructure, in turn delivering an even greener home heating solution for gas consumers.
Further details on Phoenix Energy and its Environmental Responsibility can be found at: www.phoenixnaturalgas.com/about-us/phoenix-group/corporate-responsibility