Africa may be the continent hardest hit by climate change, and the poor will suffer most. In the lead up to the Copenhagen meetings of world leaders to reach agreement on a climate change response, governments, corporations and citizens are paying attention. Eqstra Fleet Management (EFM) is one of these companies that now aims to be the first fleet management company to offset their carbon emissions.
EFM provides a diverse customer base with a full range of fleet management services underpinned by two core products, Full Maintenance Lease and Operating Lease. EFM has chosen to look at the impact of their work on the environment and will start reducing their impact and offset what they cannot reduce by planting trees through through social enterprise Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA).
The EFM team’s first step has been to calculate the emissions produced by their own fleet of 60 vehicles that do on average 35 000 km per annum. This equates to the need to plant 1 200 trees for one year’s offset through FTFAs Trees for Homes programme.
On the 14th November a team from Eqstra will join FTFA and the community of Alexandra to plant the first 350 of these trees to sink these emissions and benefit the community of River Park, Alex. The remaining trees will be distributed on the 15th and 16th November. Eqstra Fleet Management is also in the process of doing a carbon audit to work towards carbon neutral status
FTFA’s award winning Trees for Homes Programme is a highly successful and innovative public greening initiative that contributes nationally in a visible way to more sustainable human settlements, addressing climate change whilst improving quality of life and giving low-income communities trees to plant at their homes, as well as providing training, some employment and environmental awareness
“In addition to offsetting our own fleet EFM will offer our customers the opportunity to do the same on vehicles they lease from our business, with the cost being included on the final lease rental,” says Murray Price, MD Eqstra Fleet Management.On the 14th November at 10:00 the team will be meeting FTFA staff and residents at the River Park Library, Sheridan Road, River Park, Alexandra.