Arval UK plants 21,000+ trees in biodiversity initiative

More than 21,000 trees have been planted by Arval UK during the 2021/22 planting season in an initiative designed to drive faster adoption of electrified vehicles and support biodiversity.

The “1 Electrified Vehicle = 1 Tree” scheme has already resulted in trees being planted at locations in the North York Moors, Nottinghamshire and Bedfordshire for each electrified vehicle delivered by the fleet and mobility company. A further site is soon to be added in Oxfordshire, closer to the company’s UK headquarters in Swindon, with other offices in Manchester and Birmingham.

Worldwide, Arval has an objective which aims to lease 700,000 electrified vehicles by 2025, which in turn could see the same number of trees planted. With the United Nations’ International Day of Forests taking place on 21 March, the subject is very much high on the company’s agenda, explained Arval UK Managing Director, Lakshmi Moorthy.

She said: “Electrified vehicle adoption in the UK is already impressive and growing rapidly, particularly in the corporate sector. With this initiative, we’ve been encouraging employers and their drivers to further accelerate their journey towards net-zero by switching to electrified vehicles. The speed of transition with employers has been accelerated by the Government’s favourable benefit-in-kind taxation for electric cars, supporting employee drivers to choose them via company car and salary sacrifice schemes at a lower cost than their diesel or petrol alternatives.

“However, the climate emergency continues to grow in importance and, as a market leader in the field of sustainable mobility, we are in a strong position to drive positive change when it comes to zero-emission transport by actively participating in tackling climate change and decarbonisation.”

On every International Day of Forests, countries are encouraged by the UN to undertake local, national and international efforts to organise activities involving forests and trees, such as tree planting campaigns.

Arval’s biodiversity initiative is helping to store carbon in the native tree varieties planted, which include oak, silver birch and rowan. They have been selected to match the soil in the area with a sustainable management plan in place. As they mature, biodiversity will be increased helping to prevent erosion and providing a shelter for wildlife, as well as supporting employment opportunities.

The scheme is carried out with the help of Reforest’Action, a B Corp-certified company dedicated to preserving, restoring and creating forests around the world in response to the climate emergency and biodiversity loss.