Carbon balancing specialist CarbonCO has appointed a former print boss to help build on the “unprecedented interest” in its Carbon Balanced Paper, Print & Packaging initiatives.

Paul Opie joined the carbon consultancy on 13 June.

“Paul is joining us at a very important time where there’s increasing demand on printers for measuring and reporting their [carbon] impacts,” said CarbonCO managing director Jonathan Tame.

“He brings significant print experience, he was born into it and has a thorough understanding of what printers are trying to achieve and how important it is for them to add value to customers. He is joining us specifically to help printers.”

With a multi-decade career in print, Opie was most recently managing director of book and journal printer Latimer Trend, a role he held for eight years prior to its closure in 2019.

Reporting to Tame, Opie effectively replaces sales and marketing director Greg Selfe, who left the business in April.

“Paul is more than replacing in many senses as Greg had other responsibilities as well, but Paul is completely focused on CarbonCO – so we’ve increased our capacity to help print businesses.”

CarbonCO heads up Carbon Balanced Paper, Carbon Balanced Print and Carbon Balanced Packaging for conservation charity World Land Trust. Since its inception it has offset 250,000 tonnes of CO2 and protected 20,000 acres of “high-value conservation land”.

CarbonCO has also undergone an unprecedented period of growth, increasing the number of print, paper and packaging businesses it supports by 25% in less than nine months.

It currently works with 51 firms to measure and offset their carbon impact.

“I am delighted to join CarbonCO at a time of unprecedented environmental focus and look forward to working with this progressive sustainable industry to support positive change, that directly impacts biodiversity, and make a real difference,” said Opie.