East Sussex College helps plant 6,000 trees in effort to become ‘carbon neutral’

The College – which has campuses in Eastbourne, Lewes, Hastings, and Newhaven – has signed up to the Mvula Carbon Capture Project, run by United Nations Association Eastbourne.

The project will plant 5,000 Mvule trees (Melicia excelsa) and 1,000 fast growing ‘companion species’ (Terminalia superba and Maesopsis eminii) in Equatorial Uganda this year.

The Mvule tree, also known as Iroko, can capture an exceptional amount of CO2 over a period of 80 years, estimated to be five times that of an oak tree in the UK.

East Sussex College invests £1 million in free adult education

The College Group calculated it produces 5,786 tonnes of CO2 per year, so the initial batch of trees planted will offset its emissions.

It is expected within the next 20 years these 6,000 trees will capture at least 60,000 tonnes.

Rebecca Conroy, Acting CEO at East Sussex College, said, “This is a really exciting and important step for the college group as we take action to reduce our carbon footprint.

“Supporting this project means we are doing our bit to make the changes we need for the good of our community and the planet, and help to replenish trees that are fast becoming an endangered species due to unsustainable logging.”

Along with offsetting emissions, the college says it has already made significant steps in reducing the amount of energy it uses.

All of its campuses use energy-efficient bulbs, they have increased the number of recycling points across each campus, and last year, the college installed solar panels on the roof of the Ore Valley campus to provide up to 72 per cent of the campus’ electrical power.

Eastbourne girl and gran with dementia go viral with heartwarming TikTok videos

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.