Car hire, if used correctly, can have a positive impact on the environment – you hire a car as and when you need it, avoiding depreciation and other running costs and cutting out those non-essential journeys. However, one car hire company has gone an extra mile to do its bit for the environment.
Green Motion, described as the world’s first carbon negative vehicle hire operation, already offers customers the chance to drive vehicles with the lowest emissions on the road – including the recently added Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion – while reducing its footprint through carbon offsetting schemes. Now it has gone a step further because every time a customer hires a car, it will plant a tree – in conjunction with Trees4Good.
The tree planting operation will primarily take place in the rainforests of Brazil and Borneo. The idea is to concentrate on reforestation of the areas that have been decimated in order to provide employment for the local population. It is hoped that by planting trees and allowing the locals to subsequently harvest their crops, selling them through the fair trade system, the local population will be deterred from hacking down trees solely to make a quick profit.
There have been criticisms of carbon offsetting schemes in the past, with many having little value for the environment but costing the consumer heavily. However, Richard Lowden, founder of Green Motion, believes this scheme can genuinely make a difference.
He said: “The issue of carbon offsetting is a complicated one, with many carbon-offsetting schemes proving to be valueless both in terms of the benefit to the environment and also to the customers paying for the privilege. In many cases, standard carbon offsetting schemes, some of which have been adopted by our competitors, do more harm than good and can be described as green wash.
“We feel that Trees4Good is the perfect partner for Green Motion as they are not only committed to saving the environment but have taken an extremely moral and sustainable approach.”
For more information on Green Motion visit greenmotion.co.uk.
