Land Rover pays to offset its pollution

Land Rover has been enrolling its customers in Britain to pay a certain amount to offset the pollution that their thirsty vehicles are going to cause up to 72,000 km. The monetary amount, calculated according to the amount of carbon dioxide released, is used by an organisation called ClimateCare in charitable activities around the world, aimed at reducing overall worldwide pollution. Land Rover has now decided to offer the programme to Middle East customers, except that it is included in the price of the vehicle as standard.

The full programme, comprising of two elements, will offset all of the CO2 emissions generated by Land Rover’s manufacturing operations in the UK, which has already been in place since September 2006. It will also offset the first 72,000 km of customer use on all Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Land Rover LR3, Land Rover LR2 and Defender vehicles sold in the Gulf and Levant from the 1st of October. The Gulf and Levant will be one of the first regions outside the UK & Europe to implement the programme.

ClimateCare, an international CO2 offset provider, will manage the Land Rover scheme in the Gulf and Levant, as it has been doing in the UK since the programme was launched in 2006. Globally more than 2 million tonnes of CO2 will be offset as part of the Land Rover CO2 programme.

This programme works through the funding of projects that avoid or reduce CO2 emissions, with the resulting amount of CO2 saved balancing the original emissions created. All of the projects funded go through a rigorous process of independent verification and validation to ensure and demonstrate that the CO2 emissions reductions are achieved. The first projects include a wind farm in China, a hydro-electric generator in Tajikistan, and efficient cooking stoves in Uganda.

After the 72,000 km mark has been reached customers can opt to continue to offset their mileage through ClimateCare’s website. Similarly, existing customers can also participate in the programme by offsetting their emissions for a fee at www.climatecare.org/landrover. We believe absolutely no GCC customers will take up that extension offer.