Member Article

Green company gains virtual boost

A former headteacher who joined a virtual version of the UK’s fastest growing science park has found success helping companies give something back to the environment.

Stephen Prior, director of Forest Carbon Ltd, helps clients such as Stagecoach and Marks & Spencer offset their carbon emissions through a series of forestry planting schemes across the country.

He now hopes to boost his profile by joining NETPark Net - the virtual version of County Durham’s science and technology hub, NETPark. NETPark Net allows companies across County Durham and the North East the chance to access the benefits of the North East Technology Park without physically being based there.

“By joining NETPark Net, we feel we’re part of a business community and it provides us with more than just an address,” said Mr Prior.

“There’s a great deal of support and advice on offer along with workshops and events which are helping us grow the business.”

British born Mr Prior, who lives in Weardale, left Zimbabwe in 2004 where he had been head of an independent secondary school and owner of a small farm which was seized by the Mugabe government.

Studying for an MBA at Durham University’s Business School, he graduated with ‘best academic performance overall’ and a dissertation in the role of forestry in climate change mitigation and global carbon markets.

Since it began in early 2007, the business has planted around 600,000 native trees for its clients, including 25,000 for Marks & Spencer. The firm has planted enough trees for to offset Stagecoach’s emissions from all their bus routes from Edinburgh to Fife.

“By this time next year we’ll have planted over a million trees in Britain,” said Mr Prior. “These will exist only because our clients have acted - purely voluntarily - to do something for the environment. Trees alone won’t save the planet but they certainly have a integral role to play in reducing pollution and global warming. We aim to plant 10 million trees by 2012 - enough to swallow up five years’ worth of household emissions from the whole of Newcastle.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .