Britvic is proud to announce its support of the Acre Amazonian Rainforest Conservation Project.
Through working with The CarbonNeutral Company to measure and offset the carbon emissions released through Britvic employees' business travel in the UK, the leading soft drinks company is able to support an environmental project which aims to prevent forest destruction to 35,000 hectares of rainforest in Brazil's Acre state.
By combining internal efficiencies and external carbon offsets, Britvic is delighted to be one of the first soft drink companies in the world to be awarded CarbonNeutral® certification for its business travel. Britvic's CO2 emissions were assessed by an independent third party and the carbon neutral status is underpinned by The Carbon Neutral Protocol, the global standard for carbon neutrality.
Britvic is committed to reducing employees' business travel wherever possible and has implemented measures to educate employees and ensure strong sustainable business practices are implemented. The programme has been driven by a series of sustainability roadshows across the company's UK sites with the aim of highlighting Britvic's sustainability achievements over the last year and outlining how employees can contribute to delivering the business's sustainability goals.
Alison Rothnie, Sustainability Manager for Britvic, commented: "We are continually looking at ways of reducing our environmental impact, both locally and globally, and are proud to support this project which will contribute to the preservation of 35,000 hectares of Amazonian rainforest whilst bringing significant social and health benefits to local communities in the Acre region."
Brazil, home to 14% of the world's rainforest, accounts for 40% of global deforestation. Since 1990 the country has been losing 275,000,000 tonnes of rainforest annually. With deforestation making up approximately 18% of global emissions, projects such as this have the potential to significantly lower global greenhouse gas emissions and also offer additional benefits through biodiversity and ecosystem protection.
Through educating local communities about improved agricultural techniques while monitoring unsustainable uses of the forest, the project is mitigating deforestation and helping to protect the area's rich biodiversity. The project also aims to improve the quality of education for local youth through school infrastructure developments and increasing access to schools by supplying a school boat.
Jonathan Shopley, Managing Director for the CarbonNeutral Company, added: "We are delighted that Britvic is part of the growing business community that is committed to reducing its environmental impact. It is through this sort of action that essential projects like the Acre Amazonian Rainforest Conservation Project are able to deliver positive solutions to the climate change challenge."
The project aims to provide economic development and protect ecosystem services in Brazil's Acre State rainforest by:
- Monitoring unsustainable uses of the forest
- Protecting identified vulnerable or endangered plants and animal species
- Educating local communities about improved agricultural techniques
- Improving the quality of education for local youth through better facilitation in classes
- Increasing access to business and education by providing boats
- Raising conservation awareness from a young age by implementing environmental and sustainability lessons at school
- Sharing a fraction of the carbon revenue to the local communities thereby improving individual household income
- Increasing electrification of communities over the next five to ten years
- Developing access to improved medical facilities and services
- Rehabilitating degraded areas along the riverbank through reforestation activities
- Creating jobs for local people by providing them employment opportunities through the project