Climate change and global warming are far from new concepts however the climate emergency is making itself and its effects ever more present. Following the UN’s IPCC report earlier this month which warned of ‘a code red for humanity’ the need to act and make significant changes is undeniable.
As an outsourced sales solutions organisation, our biggest contributor to our carbon footprint is the miles that we drive through our fleet operation. we do not underestimate the need to be a responsible business and employer and Our Advantage Smollan Path to Purpose strategy is a series of focus areas designed to make a sustainable difference to the people who work with us, the communities we serve and the planet upon which we all live. As part of our path to purpose, Powerforce has signed up to a carbon offsetting programme with our UK sister companies (REL and Retail Active) and OblongTrees.
Together we have signed up to a global tree planting programme, committing to planting 12,000 trees a year for the next six years. Over this time as the trees mature, and as additional carbon reducing initiatives are put in place, we will become fleet carbon neutral by 2025 for both our managed and grey fleet.
Bronwyn Andrew, Powerforce MD, said:
We have made and will continue to make changes across our business to ensure we are sustainable and are protecting our natural environment. Our fleet is mostly hybrid and this year we are delighted to be working together with OblongTrees, planting the right trees in the right places to offset emissions we create, support our natural wildlife and communities across the UK and globe.
About OblongTrees
OblongTrees was born when Oblong (UK) Ltd started looking into offsetting their carbon footprint. After facing many challenges with carbon footprint calculations, issues with carbon credits and cost prohibitive planting initiatives they found there was no one to turn to and realised other companies also wanting to offset carbon emissions were experiencing similar issues, and so, the decision was made to launch OblongTrees.
OblongTrees is not for profit and in fact does not even cover their costs. Currently, all the money received goes into planting trees and Oblong (UK) Ltd funds all operating costs with staff volunteering their time for free. The long-term goal is to turn OblongTrees into a self-sufficient not for profit charity.