County Durham's Atom Bank has acquired 25 acres of Northumberland woodland in a move to emphasise its commitment to environmental sustainability.
CEO Mark Mullen, at the helm of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ's first app-based digital bank, said the purchase is a key move in Atom’s journey to become a climate positive bank by 2035 - a pledge that includes both operational and all financed emissions associated with its lending.
Formerly an open cast coal mine, the area, now populated by willow, sycamore, birch, alder, and rowan trees, is projected to absorb 7,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over its life cycle.
This figure corresponds with the total emissions produced by Atom since its establishment eight years ago. Presently, Atom's operational emissions are gauged between 500 and 700 tonnes annually, not accounting for financed emissions.
As part of its mission, Atom plans to back natural capital ventures, aiming to buy or finance an additional 100 hectares of land in the current fiscal year.
By holding the title to the land, Atom also secures the associated carbon credits as the forest develops, reports .
Mark Mullen, CEO of Atom bank, said: "We've made this significant investment in an area local to Atom because we recognise the responsibility we have to our planet. We could have invested this money in employing more people or launching new products - as to be fair we usually do - but this time we chose trees. In time these trees should store more CO2 than our company has been responsible for emitting in all the years since we were founded.
"We know our customers usually choose Atom because we offer excellent value for money and first-class customer service. But we also want our customers to know their bank is trying to do the right thing. The planet doesn't care about us, it will keep spinning with or without us populating it, but we all rely on its health for our future existence. So we need to make smarter choices about the companies we deal with, and that includes banks.
"This is an important step as we target becoming climate positive by 2035, which means we will take more carbon out of the atmosphere through our lending and investment choices than we are responsible for emitting. We could have gotten away with promising less, but companies really must do more."
Edward Twiddy, Atom bank's director of ESG, said: "Atom is a business designed for the future, changing banking for the better. We want to and can do more to actively reduce and then reverse our impact on the environment, especially as we grow as a business. This is a challenge but we believe that the efficiency of our operating model combined with a drive to innovate in everything that we do means that we can demonstrate real leadership for the sector.
"As a lender, we're responsible not only for the carbon coming from our day to day operations and travel but also for a proportion of the emissions from the homes and businesses that we finance. This creates a really significant challenge for us and all other banks - but the same leverage and lending on our balance sheets that funds our profitability and drives these emissions is also part of the answer to how we reverse the emissions whilst retaining the commercial success of the bank."
"Directly owning this woodland and putting our balance sheet to work in a different way is one example of how the power of the banking model, combined with a value set that prioritises doing the right thing, can be turned in favour of both the planet and a profitable future for Atom ".
