A SUFFOLK MP has offset all the carbon emissions he has generated from driving 10,000 miles on constituency business by making a payment to an environmental charity

David Ruffley, Conservative MP for Bury St Edmunds, has received the backing of local Tory officers who have agreed to offset all business miles accrued by its employees.

Mr Ruffley has made a payment to Climate Care, which funds environmental projects around the world, including replacing fuel such as coal with renewable energy, the reducing the amount of fuel needed, and restoring forests which absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.

After pledging to annually offset all his CO2 emissions from driving, Mr Ruffley said: 'This is a step towards making the work I do in Suffolk and the House of Commons even cleaner and greener.

'I hope that by offsetting the CO2 emissions caused by my driving I will encourage other individuals and MPs at Westminster to do the same.'

Mr Ruffley praised Climate Care. 'They do some excellent work offsetting CO2 emissions through funding projects in areas such as renewable energy and reforestation.

'They have been praised in the work they do by Sir Jonathon Porritt, the former Director of Friends of the Earth, and Professor Diana Liverman, Director of Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute.

'While offsetting my emissions is no substitute for not creating them in the first place I will continue to try to make my representing the people make as little contribution to climate change as possible.'

David Wellington, the Director Climate Care, said: 'In our fight to tackle climate change, we need our politicians to act as role models by reducing their emissions as much as possible and offsetting those that remain. It's great to see David Ruffley showing leadership on this most critical of issues.'

Mr Ruffley has offset the 10,000 miles has driven in the past 12 months. His constituency offices are based in Woolpit and his large rural constituency stretches from Bury St Edmunds to Stowmarket and Needham Market.