Yesterday I mentioned three revelations from Personal Assets Trust and forgot to tell you the third. It discloses its carbon emissions, not something I associate with an investment trust that has nine employees, excluding directors.
The Company’s carbon emissions result predominantly from its consumption of gas and electricity at its offices. Using the 2018 Government Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors for Company Reporting , emissions for the year to 30 April 2019 were 16.0 tonnes of CO2e (2018: 19.6 tonnes of CO2e). This equates to 0.10 tonnes of CO2e (2018: 0.13 tonnes of CO2e) per square metre.
MP Evans did not disclose its carbon emissions in their annual report but a shareholder asked at the AGM on Friday. The answer is that palm oil trees absorb carbon but the company has not quantified this. When it does it may quell some of the criticism the industry attracts. It will certainly be enough to offset the emissions generated in their office in Tunbridge Wells.
Meanwhile Martin Vander Weyer, in his Spectator column, asked readers how they might personally contribute to a reduction in global warming. He published my contribution: “I will try and fart less”.