25 acres of Morpeth woodland bought by North East bank in moves to become climate positive

A North East bank has bought 25 acres of Northumberland woodland as part of its efforts to show commitment to the environment.

Atom Bank chief executive Mark Mullen told how the Durham business – the UK’s first digital only app – purchased 25 acres of new woodland in Morpeth in recognition of “the responsibility we have to our planet”, as part of the firm’s mission to become a climate positive bank by 2035 .

Over its lifetime the newly planted woodland, which was once an open cast coal mine but now includes willow, sycamore, birch, alder and rowan trees, will take 7,000 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere - as much as Atom’s operations have output since the bank was founded in 2014.

Atom estimates that its current emissions from its operations, excluding financed emissions, are measured at between 500 and 700 tonnes per year, and the woodland marks its first step for the bank to meet its pledge to be climate positive within 11 years. As part of the pledge the bank says it will invest in natural capital projects, purchasing or lending on an additional 100 hectares of land this financial year.

Atom is choosing to own the land directly, and with that also the carbon credits that are created as the woodland matures.

Mark Mullen, chief executive 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, director of ESG at Atom bank, 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 ”