Richmondshire digital agency Purple Creative Studio is sponsoring the planting of trees to help offset the carbon footprint of its eight servers.
As part of an initiative by the Tree Appeal, the company began by sponsored eight trees at the end of last year, and this year will plant a tree for every website they create for their clients.
The Tree Appeal is a scheme that, with funding from corporate sponsors, plants trees in the grounds of schools and nature reserves around the UK.
Based in the North-East, the appeal has worked with several local companies and seen many Yorkshire-based schools benefit from its work over the past 14 years. Many schools use it as a way to teach their students about environmental issues.
Phil Upton, managing director of Purple Creative Studio, which is based at Aske, near Richmond, said: “In 2018 we started a new scheme to make a bigger effort to put something back, and so we now sponsor a tree for every new website that we launch.
“Working in the digital sector, we fully acknowledge that the very nature of our industry uses electricity to drive the numerous data centres and computer servers that underpin many of the services that we provide to or for our clients.”
Phil says Purple Creative Studio is also committed to rolling out other green initiatives during 2019.
From smaller changes, such as banning disposable plastic cups and introducing low-energy light bulbs and more plants to the office, to larger pledges like working towards a paperless office, he says the staff are conscious that their impact on the environment can be reduced.
The Purple Creative Studio office is already utilising biomass heating, which is powered by waste from the nearby sawmill on the Estate, as well as energy from Ecotricity, a company that specialises in selling green energy.
Phil added: “Wherever possible we choose suppliers who embrace an ethical approach and strive to minimise their carbon footprint to contribute towards energy saving.
“It may just be a small contribution, but if everyone introduced a positive change then we stand a better chance of maintaining our beautiful homeland for future generations.”
