A CUMNOCK fire engine manufacturer has become the UK’s first carbon neutral manufacturer of fire and rescue appliances.

Emergency One Group Ltd (E1), headquartered at Caponacre Industrial Estate, are known for taking ambitious steps to reduce their carbon footprint, such as in October 2020, when the company launched the world’s first fully electric fire appliance (the E1 EV0).

Now, to offset their emissions in 2021, E1 will plant a tree for every fire appliance built in a bid to become the UK’s first carbon neutral manufacturer of fire and rescue appliances.

Emergency One are hoping to inspire similar businesses to start making decisive actions in becoming carbon neutral.

Mike Madsen, managing director, said: “I feel we have a duty to show leadership within the industry and offsetting our (already reducing) emissions is only the beginning of our journey to absolute zero emissions across our operations.”

The news of Emergency One’s achievement was announced at a COP26/Scottish Enterprise event which was a part of Scotland’s Climate Ambition Zone with panellists discussing their transition to net zero.

The company also declared their ambition to be absolute zero by 2030, ahead of their ‘Race to Zero’ commitment of 2050.

Director Steven Bell, who confirmed the launch at COP26, added: “It was great to see such a positive response for our E1 EV0. A lot of hard work and dedication went into this project, and we have seen interest in customers from France to the USA.

“Customer response so far demonstrates that the want and need for this technology is there.

“With a tagline of “zero emissions, zero compromise” for the EV0, we wanted to take our organisational commitment to the next level and ensure that the company as a whole also met this ethos. The decision to

offset our factory carbon footprint today was a logical choice and one we had to make.”

With government pressure on local authorities to plan for and deliver electric vehicle infrastructure, and move towards zero emission vehicle fleets, the E1 EV0 launch has provided Fire and Rescue Services with a proven solution for their future fire appliance fleets.