COCA-COLA HBC CROATIA PLANTED TWO THOUSAND SEEDLINGS IN A PERIOD OF TWO YEARS TO OFFSET 500 TONNES OF CO2 EMISSIONS

As a socially responsible company, Coca-Cola HBC Croatia joined the CO₂MPENSATING BY PLANTING program, the first program in Croatia that offsets CO₂ emissions by planting trees, this year as well. This program was launched last year, and Coca-Cola HBC Croatia decided to participate in it, seeing such participation as yet another way to get closer to the goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain by 2040. By securing 10000 seedlings for this year’s planting event, Coca-Cola HBC Croatia became the key program participant, and in the period of two years it has helped plant 20000 seedlings in forest areas across Croatia to offset 500 tonnes of CO₂ emissions.

To mark the beginning of this year’s edition of the CO₂MPENSATING BY PLANTING project, a press conference, attended by representatives of the sponsoring companies, was held in Zagreb this morning. After the conference, Slaven Kosanović Lunar, a renowned graffiti artist, created at the Gradec Plateau the first art installation in Croatia that captures CO₂ from the air. The sculpture has the shape of a tree and the project partners, including Coca-Cola HBC Croatia, have “planted” tags with their company logos at its base. Afterwards, the representatives of the partners were given a chance to leave their mark by colouring one of Lunar’s drawings using carbon capture paint, and thus symbolically reduce their own carbon footprint.

This year, most of the seedlings will be planted on the territory of the Municipality of Draganić near Karlovac – in the Draganički lugovi forest, and some of the seedlings will be planted in the Žutica forest near Ivanić-Grad and the Turopoljski lug forest near Velika Gorica. The organisers’ plan for this season is to plant 30000 seedlings in Draganić, and additional 20000 in the other two forest areas. The seedlings will be planted in forests that have been destroyed due to pest infestation. For example, ash tree forests growing in the Draganić area have suffered damage due to the infestation – caused primarily by the effects of the climate change – by a fungus called Chalara fraxinea that causes leaf loss and crown dieback on the infected ash trees, and eventually leads to their death. In order to help revive these forests, the employees of Coca-Cola HBC Croatia will contribute to this year’s reforestation efforts by volunteering.

The CO₂MPENSATING BY PLANTING program is implemented in collaboration with the Croatian Forest Research Institute, the Hrvoje Požar Energy Institute, and the Centre for Climatological Research of the Faculty of Science of the University of Zagreb. The project sponsors include the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, the European Parliament Liaison Office in Croatia, and the US Embassy in Croatia, while GIS Cloud collaborates on the project as the technological sponsor whose application solution will enable viewing of all the relevant data regarding the areas that have been reforested in the framework of the program on: https://www.compensatingbyplanting.com.

Najveći dio sadnica ove godine bit će posađen na području Općine Draganić pored Karlovca, u šumi Draganićki lugovi, a dio sadnica bit će posađen u šumama Žutica pored Ivanić-Grada te Turopoljski lug pored Velike Gorice. Organizatori su predvidjeli da se u Draganiću u ovoj sezoni zasadi 30.000 sadnica, dok će se u ostalim dvjema šumarijama posaditi oko 20 tisuća dodatnih sadnica. Riječ je o šumama koje su stradale djelovanjem raznih nametnika, pa su tako u Draganiću stradale šume jasena koje – u prvome redu zbog djelovanja klimatskih promjena – napada nametnik, gljiva Chalara, i prouzročuje gubitak lišća i odumiranje krošnje na zaraženim stablima jasena te konačno njegovo potpuno odumiranje. Kako bi pomogli njihovu oživljavanju, i zaposlenici Coca-Cole HBC Hrvatska svojim će volontiranjem dati doprinos ovogodišnjemu pošumljavanju.

Program CO2MPENSATING BY PLANTING provodi se u suradnji s Hrvatskim šumarskim institutom, Energetskim institutom Hrvoje Požar i Centrom za klimatološka istraživanja pri Prirodoslovno-matematičkome fakultetu Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Pokrovitelji su projekta Ministarstvo gospodarstva i održivoga razvoja, Ured Europskoga parlamenta u RH te Veleposlanstvo Sjedinjenih Američkih Država u RH, dok je tehnološki pokrovitelj projekta tvrtka GIS Cloud, s pomoću čije će se aplikacije na mrežnoj stranici https://www.compensatingbyplanting.com/ moći pratiti svi relevantni podatci o novopošumljenim područjima u sklopu ovoga projekta.