Cool Earth appoints The Fuelcard People as official partner

Cool Earth has underlined the ecological value of CO2Count by appointing The Fuelcard People as its first official partner from within the automotive industry. For every CO2Count Certificate issued, a donation is made to Cool Earth to further its work in protecting threatened rainforests.

CO2Count, the new service which provides accurate reporting of vehicles’ greenhouse gas emissions, was introduced to existing customers of The Fuelcard People at the beginning of 2012.

Steve Clarke (pictured), head of marketing for Fuel Card Services, said: “Whether managers are running a couple of vans, dozens of cars or hundreds of trucks, they all face growing pressure to reduce their fleets’ carbon footprints. That has to start with measuring emissions.”

Alongside each regular invoice, a customer receives a corresponding emissions report in the form of a CO2Count certificate. This encompasses their whole fleet, split by vehicle fuel types: diesel, petrol, gasoil and LPG. For each of these, it shows the greenhouse gases produced during the invoice period: carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen dioxide (CO2, CH4 and N2O).

The fleet manager can see, at a glance, the fleet’s emissions of each gas and the combined emissions total.

“Your first CO2Count Certificate gives a starting point,” said Clarke, “and from there it is simple to track emissions across the fleet, and match them against any emissions reduction initiatives. This is an instant and continuing gain for the customer, but the enduring global benefit comes from our partnership with Cool Earth.”

The charity works with local communities to protect rainforest in imminent danger of being cleared. It does so in such a way that the protected area then blockades tens of thousands of acres of adjacent forest.

It funds a local trust, making the local community the legal custodians of the land, and uses community rangers and satellite imagery to monitor and protect the rainforest 24/7 from illegal activity. It also institutes sustainable employment programmes, and supports schools and clinics, so that indigenous rainforest communities do not suffer from lost logging income.

Matthew Owen, Cool Earth director, said: “Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases is vital for the planet’s future and independent emissions monitoring is key to tracking the results of any reduction initiative.”