Continental Is Now a Climate Protection Partner of PLANT-MY-TREE
- Continental Supports Afforestation Projects in Germany
- First Cheque for 10,000 Euros Handed Over in Hanover
- Long-term Cooperation with the Environmental Protection Organization Planned
Hanover, April 22, 2021. Continental is further expanding its commitment to sustainable action in Lower Saxony in time for the international Earth Day and is now supporting PLANT-MY-TREE. Roman Gaebel, head of Internal Sales Service Tire Replacement Business Germany at Continental, presented the foundation with a first donation cheque of 10,000 euros in Hanover. With this sum, Continental is supporting the initial afforestation, forest restructuring and forest protection in the region. Trees are able to bind carbon dioxide, making an important contribution to combating climate change and protecting the environment.
With this long-term cooperation, Continental is also contributing to making product deliveries more sustainable and to avoiding packaging waste: “We have set ourselves the goal of making deliveries more efficient in the interests of the environment and in order to promote the avoidance of packaging waste. At the same time, our focus is on the continuous development of our services. Accordingly, we have decided to help reduce transport and at the same time reduce CO2 emissions by contributing to the costs of ordering individual items and returns. We pass on part of this lump sum directly to PLANT-MY-TREE,” explains Roman Gaebel, who handed over the check to Patric Kutscher, spokesman for the board of the PLANT-MY-TREE Foundation, in Hanover.
“Afforestation as well as the conservation and expansion of nature reserves are an important part of curbing climate change,” says Patric Kutscher. “Through co-operations such as with Continental, we can further reinforce our commitment in the Lower Saxony region.”
Own Continental Forest Planned in Lower Saxony
Continental and PLANT-MY-TREE want to plant their own Continental Forest in Lower Saxony this year. The search for a suitable location for this is already underway: “We expect that with the total sum in 2021 we will be able to reforest and maintain a forest with about 3,000 trees,” explains Roman Gaebel. “With our initiative, we are supporting the ambition of the entire group to achieve 100 percent climate neutrality along the entire value chain by 2050 at the latest.”
Continental has been producing 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources at production sites worldwide since 2020, reducing its own direct and indirect emissions by 70 percent from 2019 to 2020. With the “Carbon Neutral for Emission Free Vehicles” program, Continental will also make its global business for zero-emission cars, buses, trains and other vehicles climate-neutral from 2022. The neutralization of CO2 emissions is achieved in the first step by generating the what are called negative emissions in the same amount. To achieve this, all emissions generated during the procurement and supply of raw materials, from our own production as well as recycling at the end of a product’s lifecycle are neutralized in the same amount. Planting trees is also an important component of this neutralization.
Sustainable and responsible business practices have already been an integral part of Continental’s corporate strategy for many years and also form an important part of the “Vision 2030” strategy program for the Tires business area. With sustainable technologies and innovative solutions, the tire manufacturer aims to distinguish itself on a targeted basis. The focus here is on the strategic topics of climate change mitigation, low-emission mobility, circular economy and sustainable supply chains, and therefore all phases along the value chain.