Carbon Offsetting through Christmas Tree Adoption
ACTA is one of Make it Wild‘s UK-wide network of sites. All these sites are managing their land for nature; creating and improving habitat; supporting ecological restoration and biodiversity in a variety of ways.
Mark Hutcheon and Carol Stewart are based in Ardallie, Aberdeenshire in north east Scotland, where they both grew up. They’re as passionate about Nature as they are about Christmas! They were horrified to learn that six million cut Christmas Trees go to landfill or are chipped every January.
So they set up a sustainable Christmas Tree business, in one of their fields. They offer Christmas Trees for adoption, either Nordmann Fir or Blue Spruce. The couple deliver potted Christmas trees in December and collect them in January. They feed, water and nurture the trees for the rest of the year. When Christmas comes around again, they deliver the same tree back to families and businesses.
Once the trees are too big for their pots, Mark and Carol plant them on their land, to live out the rest of their natural life.
As the ‘retired’ Christmas trees are planted out, they become The ACTA Woodland. The long term aim is for the land to become a biodiverse woodland, and a haven for local wildlife – including red squirrels!
We are offering a unique opportunity to buy carbon offsetting through these fast growing trees – which will ultimately support biodiversity in the North East of Scotland.
Looking for an innovative way to offset your carbon emissions?
Through this partnership we’re offering carbon offsets based on a unique, sustainable model: Christmas trees that are grown, adopted, and reused for up to eight years—before being replanted to create a woodland which will continue to sequester carbon for decades to come.
Each sapling Nordmann Fir or Blue Spruce is first nurtured to adoption size. Then, for 8 years, it’s delivered to families each Christmas and then returned to be cared for through the year. Once retired, the tree is planted permanently into regenerating woodland, creating a long-term carbon sink.
Traditional Christmas trees are cut, discarded, and usually end up in landfill in January. But these trees stay alive and are reused year after year. Importantly, this saves a net 12.9 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) per tree from being emitted into the atmosphere. Instead, the re-used trees will continue to absorb CO2 throughout their entire life.
Your contribution supports this full lifecycle—covering sapling cultivation, multi-year adoption use, and final replanting. The carbon offsets are based on:
Each tree ultimately delivers meaningful, measurable carbon sequestration, vital for climate change mitigation.
For more information, contact info@makeitwild.co.uk
or complete our contact form here
