Taxis firm help to drive down climate change

Falmouth Taxis are helping to drive down carbon emissions by offsetting the amount of carbon dioxide that their business creates, becoming the first “CarbonZero” taxi service in Cornwall.

[ClickPress, Fri Jul 13 2007] Falmouth Taxis are helping to drive down carbon emissions by offsetting the amount of carbon dioxide that their business creates, becoming the first “CarbonZero” taxi service in Cornwall.

By offsetting the amount of carbon dioxide that Falmouth Taxis creates in a year, over 160 trees will be planted locally in Cornwall, with each tree absorbing carbon as they grow.

Announcing Falmouth Taxis becoming Cornwall’s first CarbonZero taxi service, Tom Arrington said “We ensure that our taxis are as fuel efficient as possible, with well maintained engines and properly inflated tyres, so that they create as little carbon dioxide as possible. However they still emit carbon dioxide, and so we have taken steps to offset the remaining carbon through working with co2balance.com”.

After evaluating their carbon footprint, co2balance.com calculated that Falmouth Taxis produces 143 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year and Tom said that it was important that all companies take responsibility for their impact on the environment:

“We can’t keep on looking the other way and pretend that our actions don’t affect the environment”, said Tom. “We can all take steps to look after the planet, and now the Falmouth public can sit back in comfort in our taxis knowing that the carbon emissions of their journey are being offset”.

Explaining the offsetting process, Mike Rigby, the co-founder of co2balance.com said: “All the trees will be planted at co2balance’s own woodland at Tinners Forest near Roche in Cornwall, which, when completed and mature, will be turned into a community woodland, which is good news for the local community as well as the environment.

All the trees are native broadleafed trees which we manage ourselves in order to ensure that every tree planted can absorb carbon dioxide and help combat climate change”.

To find out more about Falmouth Taxis, phone 01326 212141; for more information on carbon offsetting, visit co2balance at www.co2balance.com, or call 0845 094 2620.

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Notes to Editors:

About co2balance ltd:
co2balance’s aim is to provide a simple, practical and cost-effective way to individuals and businesses of reducing their ‘carbon footprint’ and then balancing their unavoidable carbon dioxide emissions through investment in woodland planting and energy efficiency. After providing advice on carbon reduction, co2balance will arrange to offset the residual CO2 emissions.

co2balance has been rated as one of the top eight carbon offset providers in the world by recent independent report: A Consumers’ Guide to Retail Carbon Offset Providers (commissioned by Clean Air-Cool Planet). The report can be found on: http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/

Based in Taunton, Somerset, co2balance offers carbon-offsetting services to people and businesses throughout the world.

About carbon dioxide:
Carbon dioxide is produced primarily through the burning of fossil fuels (used for electricity generation, the powering of vehicles etc). This gas is the chief culprit, due to the volumes produced, of what is commonly known as ‘the greenhouse effect’. This then results in climate change, which has serious environmental and economic impacts, and is believed to be the cause of the extreme weather conditions the world is witnessing with increasing frequency.

For further information – including a range of images and pictures - please contact: Paul Chiplen, Communications Manager, on 07837 766020 or paul.chiplen@co2balance.com

Interviews:

Mark Simpson, co2balance Director on 07733 313533
Mike Rigby, co2balance Director on 07800 858828

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