SPEEDY Hire has launched a new project aimed at supporting peatland restoration.
Partnering with construction company Sisk, together they have invested a total of £10,000 into the local environment. As part of the initiative, a team of volunteers from Speedy and Sisk have planted 10,000 cotton grass plants in the North Pennines, England’s largest and most drained bog.
Spanning 10,000sqm of bogland, the cotton grass plants will help to sequester carbon by keeping it in the ground and preventing it from being released into the atmosphere.
Working together with Sisk Group and North Pennines National Landscape (NPNL), this is the first phase of a long-term collaboration focused on biodiversity and peatland restoration.
While healthy peatlands become carbon retainers and take in greenhouse gases, damaged peatlands do the reverse, turning them into carbon emitters. Planting cotton grass plants will help to restore degraded peatlands by supporting vegetation growth.
Sam Westran, chair of the cCommunities committee at Speedy Hire, said, “We are proud to be supporting this important issue and making a direct contribution to peatland restoration. The World Economic Forum has considered world ecosystem collapse as a very real risk over the next 10 years, and it is important for businesses to include nature and biodiversity in their ESG plans. Climate change and biodiversity go hand in hand and we at Speedy Hire are committed to working with our partners to restore our country’s natural landscape, while helping to reduce carbon emissions.”
Christina Nichols, regional social value and stakeholder manager at Sisk, added, “Undertaking this vital work in the North Pennines National Landscape has been really important for Sisk. Together with Speedy Hire’s volunteers, our team enjoyed being part of the project, making a difference in reducing the carbon released into the atmosphere. Projects like this contribute to our target to support the successful restoration of peat bogs as part of our 2030 Sustainability Roadmap.”
Rebekah Bainbridge, field officer for the North Pennines National Landscape team, commented, “The cotton grass plugs that volunteers from Sisk and Speedy Hire planted will work with other restoration measures to help us tackle peatland degradation. This reduces carbon emissions and mitigates flood risk while also increasing biodiversity in these important habitats. The volunteers worked really hard in some very challenging weather conditions, which we often have in the high areas of the North Pennines.”
