The five star Rufflets Country House in St Andrews will be certified carbon neutral from the 1st of June. It’s apparently the first official carbon neutral hotel in Scotland. What’s fantastic about their carbon offsetting scheme is that the luxury hotel will invest in the reforestation of the Carrifran Valley in the Scottish Borders.

I’m still bemused why offsetting normally entails wind turbines in India when healing the same environment we are damaging seems to make more sense. The reforestation will offset 3000 tonnes a year in carbon emissions, and even though this is a small dent in the hotel’s yearly carbon footprint, they’ve got the right idea.

However, what is more innovative about this hotel is that they will harvest rainwater for use in all their loos, as well as for onsite laundry and irrigation for the surrounding garden.