Yorkshire-based gin and whisky distillery, Cooper King Distillery, has made its second donation to plant 100 new trees in the Yorkshire Dales through its partnership with a local environmental charity.
After pledging to donate 2.5% of its annual gin sales to the environmental non-profit organisation Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT), Cooper King Distillery has made its second quarterly contribution.
As a member of international environmental initiative 1% for the Planet, Cooper King Distillery commits to donating at least 1% of gin sales to its chosen environmental project.
Since launching its inaugural gin in May this year, Cooper King Distillery has donated more than £2000 to YDMT, which equates to the planting of 200 trees.
Co-founder Chris spent a day in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales planting some of those trees with YDMT in celebration of National Tree Week, which is the UK’s largest annual tree celebration, marking the start of the winter tree planting season (November to March each year).
Commenting on the donation, Abbie Neilson, co-founder of Cooper King Distillery said:
“We’re thrilled to be giving our second quarterly donation to YDMT, a truly fantastic charity working tirelessly to preserve our beautiful Yorkshire landscapes. We try to be eco-conscious in everything we do: we run on 100% green energy, compost our gin botanicals and offer a gin refill scheme. We’re constantly thinking of ways to help reduce our carbon footprint.
“As a small start-up company, we’re delighted to have donated enough to plant more than 200 trees this year and are excited to plant more in 2019 and beyond.”
Established in 2016 by co-founders Chris Jaume, a chartered architect and Dr Abbie Neilson, a former scientist, Cooper King Distillery is located in Sutton-on-the-Forest, North Yorkshire.
Through the partnership with YDMT, every bottle of gin sold supports the planting of native broadleaf woodlands across the Yorkshire Dales, helping to create vibrant wildlife habitats, reduce flooding and creating beautiful places that promote health and wellbeing.
The distillery hopes to support the planting of 400 trees in the area by the end of their first year if gin sales continue to excel as they have been since the launch. The 100 trees supported by this most recent donation form part of Woodale Wood in Nidderdale – a young site which YDMT hopes will grow to support several endangered species of birds such as common redstart, cuckoo and black grouse.
Michael Delvin, development manager at YDMT, commented:
“It is a pleasure to work with environmentally conscious businesses like Cooper King Distillery. Their generous donations will not only contribute to the planet’s future but also help us to support the people, landscape and wildlife of the Yorkshire Dales through our woodland restoration work. Their support plays an important part in our Together for Trees appeal through which we aim to plant 100,000 trees over the next two years, creating beautiful woodlands that everyone can enjoy.”
