From adding an optional ‘1 percent for the environment’ to client invoices, to donating trees per kitchen sold or calculating and ‘balancing’ carbon emissions, there are many ways businesses can get involved and support Forests Without Frontiers.
At Forests Without Frontiers we love to work with businesses that genuinely want to take action to counter their carbon footprints and help restore nature. It’s great to see their commitment and passion – and the many creative ways they choose to get involved. There are various simple models that people can adopt. Here are some examples of the companies we’re proud to work with – and how they choose to support us.
Plateau Restaurant
Plateau is a natural wine and cocktail bar in Brighton that serves small plates using local Sussex produce. A supporter from early on, Plateau has hosted fundraising events and planted trees with Forests Without Frontiers since 2019.
Plateau has created a special cocktail, a dish, and chosen a wine to raise money to plant trees. Each item ordered will plant a tree on the customer’s behalf. A simple but winning formula for the hospitality industry.
“It was very easy to set up the system and is a straightforward way of regularly raising money to plant trees. We’re hoping that customers will engage with it – and that other local companies will follow suit,” said Jake Northecote-Green, general manager of Plateau. “As a business we care about using the best local, organic produce and by planting trees with Forests Without Frontiers we feel we can do something for the planet too.”
Jake and his daughter also came to help plant trees with us in Sussex!
Jake, his daughter, and Nicoleta on site at Springham Farm
Locate Productions
Locate Productions is a production company based in the UK producing stills and moving image content for the digital advertising industry. Sustainability is at the core of what they do and they’ve teamed up with like-minded organisations to work towards low-carbon solutions for their own work, with the aim of encouraging the industry to move in the same direction.
Locate adds an optional ‘1% for the environment’ to their budgets which goes towards supporting bio-diversity projects and helps drawdown on carbon that already exists in the atmosphere.
Locate has planted well over 16,000 trees with Forests Without Frontiers so far.
Locate at work planting trees!
“Individually and collectively the advertising production industry has a responsibility to not only minimise its impact on the planet but to help support the natural world,” said Locate co-founder Angus Light. “This means not only minimising the emissions created through the production of work but also contributing towards re-wilding, tree planting and other biodiversity projects, so improving the state of the planet as well. In general, the response to us adding 1% to the bill has been very positive and the majority of clients are on board.”
As well as planting trees with Forests Without Frontiers, Locate looks at all aspects of the company’s operation; Good Energy, for example, was chosen as their gas and electricity supplier, they promote remote shooting to minimise flying and encourage vegetarian menus on set.
A group from Locate came to plant trees with us in Sussex!
Flight Logistics
Flight Logistics provides global distribution solutions to all business sectors with a specialist ShipArt ® service for the art world – including artists, collectors, galleries, exhibitors and museums.
Tracey Brown from Flight Logistics
Forests Without Frontiers works with Flight Logistics to help balance the carbon generated per shipment by planting trees, estimating the number to be planted to sequestrate CO2 emissions. Flight Logistics provide the number of shipments and mileage and FWF calculates the rest (see our Frequently Asked Questions for how calculations are made).
“Flight Logistics decided to partner with Forests without Frontiers after a year’s extensive research into various tree planting and re-wilding schemes,” said managing director Tracey Brown.
“We were seeking an environmental partner with an already proven and audited record of planting, but more than that we wanted a partner that could demonstrate the involvement of the extended community and create a programme that considered all the elements of environment, sustainability, wildlife, and longevity around their schemes. We wanted a considered holistic approach to our carbon offset programme and Forests offered us that.”
“As a company in the transport sector we are acutely aware of the fact that reputationally we are a ‘dirty business’,” she added. “We have long had a CSR policy in place – several years before the recent trend towards reducing corporate carbon footprints and the drive towards net zero. We are committed to the net zero 2030 pledge through first reducing our carbon footprint as far as is possible and only then mitigating what cannot be reduced through the partnership with Forests. We fully appreciate that offsetting should be complimentary to reducing actions, not instead of reducing actions.”
Olaf Workshops
Olaf Workshops is a design-led joinery workshop in London that builds kitchen and household joinery using traditional methods and sustainable materials. Olaf plants 50 oak trees with Forests Without Frontiers for every kitchen they build.
Angus on site in Sussex
“In general, people are very happy that we’ve chosen to take this stance,” said managing director Angus Barthram. “We’re by no means the most expensive joiners out there and I think people are generally under the impression that you have to pay over the odds to find a company that also has environmental credentials. So it’s lovely that we get to do this without being too exclusive!
“We’re also finding that clients are far more concerned about sustainability when doing up their homes so it actually makes so much sense for us as a business. We chose FWF as the message was so clear and simple! There is a lot of debate over what’s good and what’s not that we knew we had to find something that we knew was not only powerful but also had clear benefits and progress. When we heard about FWF we jumped at the opportunity as they had a small, creative team just like ours and they were so trustworthy. Our aim is to always be giving back more than we’re taking. It’s been a happy union!”
Angus attended a planting event with Forests in Springham Farm.
Xiting
Xiting is a global security provider with a holistic approach in various topics related to SAP (Systems Applications and Products) security. Founded in 2008, they have employees in Germany, Switzerland, US, UK and Cluj in Romania.
Xiting calculates a number of trees to plant a year based on estimated emissions for the company and their employees. They also offer to act as official climate partner and reference for their customers. Xiting currently plants 5,000 trees per year.
Four people from Xiting went out to Romania in Spring 2022 to plant trees.
“Visiting the site was essential to better understand the process of planting trees,” said CEO Patrick Bockel. “We were able to follow the journey of a tree from the nursery, up the mountain to where it was planted in the ground. Although the weather was not on our side, we were very excited to be able to plant around 100 trees. It was rewarding to see the landscape become greener with each tree planted. At the end of the day, we were left wanting to plant more trees.”
Xiting’s Climate Team has been working towards the company becoming a carbon neutral company since 2019, finding innovative projects that actively promote sustainability and combat climate change at their corporate locations. The goal is also to engage customers and partners to engage in environmental protection.
In addition to Forest Without Frontiers, Xiting also supports the Swiss technology company Climeworks, which uses a technology called 'direct air capture' to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air.
Xiting discovered Forests Without Frontiers through an article on social media and found that their beliefs aligned. “This aspect played an important part in our search for the right organisation. Not to mention, Nicoleta’s passion and dedication to this cause as well as the various projects she leads!” added Patrick.