22.03.2024

Ainscough becomes carbon neutral

UK rental company Ainscough claims to be the first company in Europe to be certified as carbon neutral by ‘Carbon Footprint Ltd’.

In 2018, a carbon audit found that Ainscough produced 15 thousand tonnes of CO2 a year with 90 percent of that coming from diesel fuel. Having tested the impact of switching to Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) to reduce emissions with real life field trials, it subsequently adopted the fuel across its 30 depots and 400 cranes, completing the process during 2022.

In November 2023, with a full year of blanket HVO fuel usage under its belt Ainscough claims to have reduced its emissions by 80 percent. In order to mitigate the remaining carbon emissions, the company has gone the offset route, and invested in a Uruguayan wind farm offsetting 700 tonnes followed by a further 3,023 tonnes supporting a solar power carbon offset project in India.



The company will also conduct a series of energy audits across its depots, intending to produce ‘eco depots’ with 20 percent more efficient energy use and reduced fuel consumption. It has also been trialling the new 50 tonne Liebherr LTC 1050-3.1E hybrid crane in and around London - more on that in the next issue of C&A.

Tony Morley of Ainscough said: “We established our carbon footprint taskforce specifically to tackle the enormous issues we faced, and our carbon neutral status therefore comes as validation for our efforts. However, the matter at hand is of such importance that there is no room for complacency, and our mindset now shifts to achieving net zero.”
  
“At Ainscough, we remain confident in our commitment to the UN’s 17 sustainability aims and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with Carbon Footprint Ltd. to deliver positive outcomes for us, and the environment.” 

Dan Hill-Morriss of Carbon Footprint added: “Ainscough should be very proud of their achievements in this area so far. The efforts and investments that they have made in reducing their emissions with such significant effect are commendable, and it has been a pleasure to be able to support them in this first milestone - becoming certified as a carbon neutral organisation.  We are certainly excited to work further with Ainscough, joining them on their journey to net zero in the future.”

Vertikal Comment

Ainscough is clearly determined to reduce its carbon footprint, and has made great strides in reducing carbon emissions, for which it should be roundly applauded. It is one thing doing this if you run a small fleet, far more challenging when you are the largest in the country.

It is important to note however being certified as carbon neutral, is not the same as being carbon zero, while switching to HVO fuel and buying offsets is not everyone’s idea of true carbon neutrality.

I can already hear the accusations of ‘greenwashing’ from purists supported in part, perhaps, by the fact that the UK apparently has no significant HVO production, so one assumes that it is imported, at least for now. The key to HVO being sustainable is whether it is made from waste products and/or a locally grown crops, rather than from palm oil which is said to have encouraged deforestation etc...

Ainscough is not claiming to have achieved net carbon zero, but rather carbon neutral. While these two are often confused, or even taken as one and the same, they are in fact quite different things. Other factors that can help contribute towards net zero are the installation of solar panels on depot and workshop roofs, installing heat pumps and adding green spaces locally or better still, within its facilities etc.. We have asked Ainscough about these aspects and are waiting to hear back.

This is a subject we are likely to hear a great deal more about over the next few years.