INDEPENDENT COMPANY IS ON A ‘TREEMENDOUS’ QUEST TO PLANT 1 BILLION TREES TO HELP OFFSET CARBON FOOTPRINT GENERATED BY BUSINESSES
Leading independent software company RapidReg Ltd. located in Exeter, is on a quest to plant 1 billion trees as part of an aspiring initiative to save the planet by offsetting the carbon footprint generated by businesses, whilst helping them to attract a new wave of green-minded consumers.
Proactive tech entrepreneur Chris Collins is Co-founder of ‘The Billion Trees Project’, a non-profit arm of his RapidReg brand said:
“With the impact of the Pandemic affecting businesses globally, we wanted to step back to reflect on what we really want to achieve with the skills we’ve collectively accumulated and how we can better the world we live in, whilst giving back to the business community. We are on a mission to plant one billion trees helping businesses to go green, attract like-minded customers, improve marketing processes, and make the world a better place for just 15p per tree!”
Studies suggest between 75%-90% of the total global carbon emissions are produced by businesses and not individuals.
Mr Collins comments:
“These are really scary statistics, so it’s more important than ever for organisations to be held accountable for their own carbon footprint. Consumers want businesses to mirror their concerns for the state of the planet by taking full responsibility to cut their carbon footprint to reduce their impact, and ideally seek to be carbon negative.”
“Forward-thinking companies will be looking to attract sustainable consumers by clearly demonstrating they are actively a green business. Our ambitious project was launched to target green-minded businesses finding it hard to off-set their carbon footprint and seeking to become carbon negative, whilst appealing to new customers with just a few simple steps.”
Ben Westcott, Partnerships Manager – ‘The Billion Trees Project’:
“We are excited about the launch of this inspiring project and the life-line connection we are helping to create between business and global ambitions. This is done by using a unique, affordable, and easy to use marketing tool to gain new customer data in exchange for planting trees; thus, creating employment for people living in the most impoverished areas where they will work with the trees from seed through to full maturity, helping to restore and protect forests.”
He explains:
“‘The Billion Trees Project’ works with qualified tree planting partners covering a wide range of countries including, Central America; Madagascar; Mozambique and Kenya. Madagascar as an example has over 200,000 species of plants and animals which do not exist anywhere else in the world.”
“Unfortunately, over 90% of the country’s original forests have been destroyed, displacing entire animal species, and taking away the Malagasy’s ability to live and farm the land. Many of the mangrove estuaries have disappeared, leaving the exposed earth and coastline to wash away into the sea.”
The planting partners take areas decimated by deforestation, offering meaningful employment planting trees for a fair wage and teach the local population how reforestation and sustainable use of the land will bring back the lost ecosystem allowing that area to thrive. Mr Collins comments:
“They are working tirelessly to help right the wrongs people have inflicted. The changes they are making in some of the world’s most impoverished areas, are not just saving the planet, they also give local people much needed employment and an opportunity to once again be a part of a sustainable community.”
He adds:
“The highlight of the planted trees is that every business is given their own ‘digital forest’, allowing clients to get fully involved in tracking their individual trees. They will be able to know when and where it was planted and how old it is as well as tracking its growth journey from sapling to tree. This gives businesses and customers a unique connection for the lifetime of the tree.”
Consumer studies show that people are actively searching for businesses and brands with values that align with their own.
In 2020 searches for sustainable retail increased 7% month on month which is the catalyst for the huge surge of green products in 2021.
Mr Collins said:
“The movement for sustainability is being driven by the 18–24-year-old market, which means it is only going to increase going forward. Not only that, 71% of consumers prefer to buy from companies who are aligned with their values. Yet most companies feel it is too difficult for the business to achieve their carbon neutral goals; more and more business owners are being encouraged to find ways to go green, but often just don’t know where to start.”
Mr. Westcott confirms:
“Businesses’ energy supply alone contributes around 18% to carbon emissions in the UK, and even small businesses can make a real difference to these figures by taking a few easy steps. The launch of ‘The Billion Trees Project’ will help businesses move closer towards being carbon negative by incentivising consumers to plant a tree in exchange for their marketing data. It couldn’t be easier for organisations to be a part of this movement to help save our planet.”
“Whether creating a basic newsletter sign-up on their website saying: ‘subscribe to our mailing list and we’ll plant a tree’, or for example, a QR code in a coffee shop asking customers to ‘scan here to offset the carbon footprint of your coffee cup’. The powerful software allows you to create anything from a simple contact sheet to a booking form, with availability and payments. Once companies have this data, they can send marketing campaigns, announce new products, or simply invite customers to visit again with say a 10% discount coupon.”
Specialist steelwork fabricators ANY Weld Ltd. based in Barnstaple, North Devon, was one of the first businesses to sign up.
Sales and marketing assistant Ella Townsend said:
“We were looking for ways to market our efforts to be as environmentally friendly as possible and engage with our customers, so this exciting new project fits the bill perfectly. It’s a win:win situation; we’re building on our client relationships by helping plant trees to offset our carbon footprint and the project is creating jobs and helping restore areas of deforestation, all for a small cost.”
Aaron Yeo – CEO confirms: “We are part of the steel industry which is always going to be responsible for a percentage of carbon emissions, so by planting trees we are able to take ownership of carbon offsetting. We think it’s vitally important for businesses to play their part in becoming more sustainable and as ANY Weld grows, we want to clearly demonstrate our company ethos by our actions and encourage others to follow suit. We hope our customers share our belief that the biggest changes results from us working together, and we really appreciate them helping us to make these improvements for the benefit of everyone.”
The ambitious project has already generated the planting of over 1,000 trees and growing rapidly.
Mr. Collins concludes:
“When the goal of planting 1 billion trees is reached the impact on the world will be dramatic, absorbing 21,000,000,000kg of carbon every year from harmful CO2 with the by-product being clean oxygen that we all breathe. To help put these figures into context , 21 billion kg of carbon equates to 52.5 million Asian Elephants or 1.75million London buses.”
“To make a real change happen and for it to work and be effective, we knew our solution would have to be mutually beneficial to everyone, and so easy to do that anyone could use it even without technical experience. ‘The Billion Trees Project’ is a win:win solution. The consumer gets to plant a tree to help the planet, and it gives a clear indication that the business investing in this initiative cares and is proud of its green status by making a real commitment to making the world a better place to live and work, the impact globally is dramatic.”
“The people planting the trees are given employment and food, and we see a reduction in carbon as a result. Meanwhile the world’s most impoverished areas are given meaningful employment to end famine and replant the forests that should never have been destroyed. It’s data capture that I believe would even make David Attenborough happy!”
We make it easy for businesses to go green - It’s as easy as One, Two, TREE! Register now to be part of this ambitious project and gain like-minded new customers.
Together we can make this a better place to live and breathe.
