Hertz Launches Carbon Offset Program Initiatives
The Hertz Corporation, a world leading car rental and car-sharing operator has launched a new carbon offset program that provides corporate customers worldwide with the opportunity to reduce the carbon footprints associated with their vehicle rentals through the purchase of carbon offsets.
Hertz has partnered with TerraPass, a leading carbon offset provider, to administer the program. The partnership allows Hertz to provide timely and accurate carbon emission reporting to customers. The report feeds directly into a personalised platform, which allows corporate customers to then purchase carbon offsets, if desired, to neutralise their environmental impact.
What is Carbon Offset?
A simple explanation carbon offset and neutralising environmental impact would be you plant trees to offset the carbon dioxide you spew driving a fossil fuel powered vehicle. However, a Carbon Offset program will allow you to get involve and build bigger projects in communities across the country that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions beyond what you can achieve through individual action.
A carbon offset is a certificate representing the reduction of one metric ton (2,205 lbs) of carbon dioxide emissions.
If you develop a project that reduces carbon dioxide emissions, every ton of emissions reduced results in the creation of one carbon offset. Project developers can then sell these offsets to finance their projects. For example, a dairy farm can install an anaerobic digester to capture and destroy methane that would otherwise be released when animal manure decomposes. However, such anaerobic digester projects are typically expensive to install and maintain. In order to finance the construction and operation of a digester project, a dairy farm can sell the emission reductions in the form of carbon offsets.
Carbon offsets is a tool for individuals and organisations that wish to mitigate the impact of their own carbon footprints.
TerraPass: What is Carbon Offset?
Hertz-supported Carbon Offset Projects:
Envira Amazonas REDD Project
The Envira Amazonia Project seeks to help protect and conserve 200,000 acres of the Amazonian forest in the state of Acre, Brazil by providing payments for ecosystem services. This type of project is known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest. This project will generate GHG emission reductions by foregoing forest conversion to grassland in favor of conservation of the tropical forest.
Lee County Waste To Energy Facility
Reduce methane emissions by installing a new combustion unit at the Lee County Waste to Energy Facility in Ft Myers, Florida. Heat recovered from the incineration of municipal solid waste is captured and used to generate electricity.
Crow Lake Wind Project North Dakota
The project began operations in December 30, 2009 to aid the Minot community in North Dakota in creating electricity with a zero emissions and grid-connected. At the time of its commissioning, was the largest project operated by an electric power cooperative in the United States. The project uses 77 1.5 megawatt turbines and delivers power into the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA’s) Integrated System, which is part of the Midwest Reliability Organisation (MRO) region as established by the North American Electric Reliability Commission (NERC).
Details of Hertz-supported projects can be found here
Walk the Talk
Hertz’s commitment to corporate responsibility:
- Towards Fuel Efficient Vehicles: Approximately 80 percent of the company’s vehicles have a minimum fuel-efficiency rating of 28 highway miles per gallon.
- Environmental efficiency programs: Recycling over 2 million gallons of used oil and auto waste in 2015.
- Tire recycling: Nearly 300,000 tires diverted from landfills in 2015.
- U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification awarded at 6 locations throughout the U.S., including Hertz’s corporate headquarters in Estero, Florida.
- Green Restaurant: The headquarters’ cafeteria was certified by the Green Restaurant Association as a 4 Star Certified Green Restaurant®, the first of its kind in Florida and at the time of certification, one of only three 4 Star Certified Green Restaurant® corporate cafeterias in the world.
“At Hertz, we recognise our obligation to help ensure the long-term health of our planet,” said Bob Stuart, executive vice president global sales. “We’re proud to implement this program, which complements our ongoing efforts to reduce our impact through numerous corporate responsibility initiatives.”
“Hertz is paving the way with this innovative program, offering customised solutions for its customers,” said Brian Armentrout, director of TerraPass. “These efforts speak volumes to the corporate responsibility goals of Hertz and its customers. TerraPass is proud to partner with companies like this who recognize such needs. We look forward to launching this newly developed solution from TerraPass to effectively calculate individual carbon footprints.”
Hertz anticipates beginning to offer leisure customers the opportunity to purchase carbon offsets later this year.
SOURCE Hertz Global Holdings
Web Site: http://www.hertz.com/
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