Insurance company plants carbon offset trees

Kwik Fit Insurance, a Lanarkshire intermediary company, confirmed its commitment to the environment this week by planting about 300 trees as part of its contribution to Greener Travel Week which lasts from Aug 24-30.

The Green Travel Week was an initiative launched by the Scottish Government as part of its overall campaign to encourage Scots to be more eco-friendly in their daily lives. Outside of planting trees, staff at the insurance company were also encouraged to carpool.

The decision to plant 294 trees at the Ettick Valley park at Overkirkhope was made after the company stepped back to calculate what its CO2 emissions for the week would be and how they could offset the emissions during the eco-week.

On Thursday, staff members who decided to carpool received an entry into a lottery for a parking space at the front of the building for a month which is nice given that the autumn rains are on their way. In addition to the parking spot, the winner also received a month worth’s of free food at the restaurant within the firm.

Group Managing Director Brenden Devine of Kwick Financial Services stated that the company was aware that as an insurance company that covers cars they had a responsibility to raise awareness of the problems that can result from CO2 emissions from vehicles.

In another unrelated but interesting bit of news, engineers are trying out floating artificial trees in the atmosphere that are created to trap and catch CO2 emissions from the air. However, critics of the move say that this is a dangerous idea that may unpredictable results.

Instead, the group of concerned scientists stresses that reducing the amount of CO2 emissions that the world releases on a regular basis is the only true way to fight global warming and climate change.