Portsmouth Guildhall to plant 100 trees for each conference event under green initiative

For each conferencing event held in the main auditorium, The Guildhall Trust, the charity which runs the Guildhall, will fund 100 trees to be planted through Ecologi.

It is anticipated that more than 2,500 trees will be planted within the next six months through the Guildhall’s conferencing events with plans for the scheme to be widened out to other carbon offset projects and concert audiences in coming months.

Ecologi is an environmental organisation that facilitates the funding of carbon offset projects and tree planting around the world. So far they have planted 50m trees and offset 2.2m tonnes of CO2.

Conference and events manager for the trust, Victoria Campbell-Phillips said: ‘As an organisation we take our responsibility towards the environment very seriously as do many of the organisations that hold their events with us, so we are delighted to be taking this positive action to collectively influence change.

‘We will also be offering event organisers the option to match our funding to achieve even greater impact.’

The new initiative is just one way in which the trust has made changes to reduce the impact of its operations. Other initiatives have included changing to LED lighting throughout the venue, recycling and changing to oxo-biodegradable flexy-glass and veg-ware materials in its bars and the Square Kitchen café.

The venue is proud to have achieved and retained an ‘A’ for the building’s energy performance operational rating.

For more information go to portsmouthguildhall.org.uk.