On 13 December, our largest member of Pond Foundation to date, Guardian Capital Group based in Canada, announced their commitment to start amortizing its Lifetime Carbon Balance with a first payment and support for projects.
What is GuardianCapital Group?
Guardian Capital Group Limited, (otherwise called Guardian) global financial services company that works in both Wealth Management and Investment Management.
What exactly does this mean?
The Lifetime Carbon Balance represents the total greenhouse gas emissions by company activities since the inception of the company, since 1962. Guardian Capital Group has announced the commitment to eliminate their lifetime carbon balance over the next 19 years, by December 31st, 2040. They aim to achieve this in collaboration with the activities of Pond Foundation, of which Guardian Capital Group Limited is a founding member, including investments in carbon removal projects, reducing its own emissions and investing in and participating in nature-based projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere globally.
In light of this initiative of Guardian Capital Group, Pond Foundation has done work to find the calculations of Guardians Lifetime Carbon Balance since 1962, when the company was founded, until December 31, 2021, covering over 6 decades of data using the GreenHouse Gas protocol.
The greenhouse gas protocol is the international standard for reporting corporate emotions, and gasses are categorized into direct, indirect, or indirect value chains depending on the source they come from, and the final calculation of the Lifetime Carbon Balance. was found to be 35,219 tonnes ofC02 equivalent (TCO2 e).
What are the next steps for Guardian Capital Group?
With these sorts of commitments, it is important to set smaller, realistic, and concrete goals in order to reach a long-term goal such as this one. Guardian Capital Group has taken a commitment to invest in 3 projects in particular during the first year of this commitment, including multiple that the Pond Foundation is involved in as well.
Their chosen projects include:
Ricehouse- An Italian-based organisation that aims to improve the environment and limit waste by turning rice into usable products.
Tanoe-Ehy Forest- A project that aims to improve livelihoods by protecting habitats, forests, and biodiversity by reducing illegal logging and hunting.
Durrell Rewild ForestRestoration- A project that contributes to wildlife conservation, including black lion tamarinds, and creates employment in the region in order to reduce regional unemployment in Brazil.
We are proud of the commitment of Guardian Capital Group as well as their enthusiasm to make a positive difference for the environment and the world.
“We are quite excited to see Guardian go beyond their decision to balance their annual carbon emissions with this commitment to eliminating their LCB as well,” said Scott Poynton, Founder and CEO, of The PondFoundation. “The fantastic, nature-based projects in which they’ve invested will also make a massive difference to local communities, endangered species, biodiversity and more. We couldn’t be prouder to have them as a founding member.”
