Deutsche Post DHL’s climate-protection community project in Lesotho, South Africa, has beenapproved by the United Nations after having reduced CO2 emissions by 9,000 tonnes since June 2009
through the use of efficient wood-burning stoves.With effect from mid 2013, the group expects to make use of the first certified CO2reductions coming from this Gold Standard project for its CO2-neutral GoGreen programme. By 2014,it estimates the annual CO2 reduction will exceed 20,000 tonnes.
By minimising fuel use, the efficient wood-burning stoves used for the project reduce CO2emissions by up to 80 per cent compared to traditional cooking methods. In turn, decreased woodconsumption results in reduced deforestation and thus also minimises associated soil erosion. Inaddition, it also makes a positive impact on health by reducing the amount of smoke generated bycooking.
Christof Ehrhart, Director of Corporate Communications and Corporate Responsibility atDeutsche Post DHL, said: “Our first independent climate protection project in Lesotho is designedfor the long term. It not only relieves the burden on the environment but also helps to makeday-to-day life easier for the community. We look forward to being able to provide our customerswith the first GoGreen service certificates from the middle of the year.”
Deutsche Post DHL’s GoGreen service offsets the CO2 emissions generated by the transport ofgoods for Deutsche Post DHL customers by means of external climate-protection projects. Thelong-term financing and coordination of the climate-protection project in Lesotho make it possibleto achieve high-quality CO2 reductions for a reasonable price while sustainably improving theliving conditions of the people in Lesotho, the company explained.
For the realisation of the Lesotho climate project, Deutsche Post DHL is cooperating withatmosfair gGmbH, one of the leading CO2 offsetting agencies, which registered the first-ever stoveproject with the UN in 2009.
Xaver Kitzinger, Project Manager responsible at atmosfair, said: “According to currentfigures, 5,200 stoves are now being used in Lesotho every day and distribution is growing, whilearound 5,000 more households are set to receive their own stove this year. The aim is to have10,000 stoves in working use in Lesotho by the end of the year. The joint project of the logisticscompany and atmosfair is the first in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in Lesotho.”
Apart from its own project in Lesotho, Deutsche Post DHL will continue to secureemission-reduction certificates from external projects in order to offset 100 per cent of the CO2emissions generated by its GoGreen customers.
