A public relations firm has shown its commitment to the environment by becoming climate balanced.

Award-winning Midnight Communications employed climate balance experts from C Level, to assess the environmental impact of its offices in Brighton and London.

The firm worked out how much CO2 was produced in order to keep the offices stocked and running. The result was a staggering 55.6 tonnes annually.

Working with the Forests Absorbing Carbon dioxide Emissions Foundation (Face) and the Uganda Wildlife Authority, Midnight is re-addressing the balance by planting the equivalent of 2.5 tennis courts of new forest each year on Mount Elgon in Uganda.

As the Midnight forest grows to maturity, their CO2 will be taken out of the atmosphere and locked into the trees.

Midnight's chief executive Caraline Brown said: "Although our contribution to global warming and climate change is small compared with many businesses, we felt a collective responsibility to do what we could to be part of the global solution, rather than the problem.

"We have always recycled our paper and other waste materials and have plans to reduce the amount of CO2 we generate by switching our offices to renewably sourced electricity.

"We hope by highlighting the benefits of climate balancing others will be encouraged to follow in our footsteps, thereby making the world a better place."

C Level director Daren Howarth added: "Our mission is to help change people's behaviour towards global warming.

"To become climate balanced firms must first understand, reduce and then compensate for their impact on the environment.

"We are really pleased to have worked with Midnight and hope its example will soon be followed by other businesses."

The Government aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent, or 26.5 million tonnes, by 2010 and will need firm's such as Midnight to spread the word.

C Level said the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources in the UK fell last year.

He said: "Within the work environment, air conditioning is one of the greatest energy-hungry utilities, followed by old TV-style computer screens, photocopiers and printers.

"The message being spread by a number of forward thinking companies, including Midnight Communications, is that adopting green energy procedures can help companies cut costs as well as support the environment."