A Welsh rugby club is helping to combat the problems of global warming by planting hundreds of trees in Mexico.

Bosses at Newport RFC hope the scheme will compensate for the amount of greenhouse gas the players generate.

The trees will help combat C02 emissions

The club, which is in the Wales rugby premier league, enlisted the help of Future Forests - a climate change business - to work out how much carbon dioxide (CO2) it produces.

Every activity - from lighting the stadium to the fuel burnt travelling to away games - was taken into account.

The company calculated that the club will produce 372 tonnes of CO2 in a year.

CO2, which results from burning fossil fuels such as oil and coal, is considered a primary source of the climate change widely blamed for causing global warming.

To counter balance the effect of the emissions, club officials, supported by Newport council, have decided to plant 500 trees in Chiapas in Mexico.

Trees help to clean the environment by absorbing CO2 and converting it into oxygen.

Climate change is a global problem and we're doing something local to solve it

Keith Granger, Newport RFC

Planting forests is an essential part of the "carbon trading" between countries buying and selling their quotas for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, as agreed at the 1997 climate change convention in Kyoto.

Newport rugby club's contribution to the environment is on a smaller scale than that on the interational carbon trading market, but it makes the the Black and Ambers the first rugby club in the world to take part in the scheme.

Club chief executive Keith Granger said: "As a club we want to set the highest standards in the world of rugby.

"We also want to set the highest standards in terms of responsibility for our environment and community.

"Climate change is a global problem and we're doing something local to solve it.

Economically poor

"It is important that we act now as a club together with our supporters to safeguard the environment for ourselves and future generations," he added.

The trees will be planted in two of the economically poorest parts of Mexico - Tzeltal and Tojolobal.

The scheme also aims to help local farmers run their own business.

Founder of Future Forests, Dan Morrell hoped other rugby clubs would follow Newport's lead.

"Going Carbon Neutral is rapidly gaining momentum around the world with musicians, artists and now rugby clubs neutralising with their C02 emissions," he said.

"All sporting fields can make a difference and we want other teams and players to follow the lead set by the Black and Ambers."