Carbon footprint offset service

In the first version of our emission offset service, customers have the option to choose from three compensation alternatives if they wish. In the future, we will update the emission offset service to be more flexible, diverse, and accurate, allowing customers to more conveniently select a compensation amount that suits them. In this initial version, the calculation of carbon dioxide emissions for all vehicles (cars, vans, and minibuses) is based on an average of 160 g/km. This figure is derived from the average emissions of all the vehicles in our service.

MINIMUM COMPENSATION

This option is best suited for you if you drive infrequently but want to offset the minimum emissions generated from your reservation. The price is based on the average emissions of our service’s cars over a 100-kilometer journey and the number of days in your reservation.

BASIC COMPENSATION

This option is best suited for you if you drive a bit more and want to offset the emissions generated from your reservation. The price is based on the average emissions of our service’s cars over a 400-kilometer journey and the number of days of your reservation.

OVERCOMPENSATION

This option is best suited for you if you choose unlimited mileage for your reservation. The price is based on the average emissions of our service’s cars over a 700-kilometer journey and the number of days in your reservation.

Our emission offset service compensates emissions in collaboration with the domestic Wood Forest Finland. Through our emission offset service, the carbon footprint of your reservation is sustainably compensated in domestic carbon sinks. Our partnership with Wood Forest Finland ensures that the process is convenient, trustworthy, ecological, and transparent for our customers.

Emissions are offset by planting forests on land previously used for peat production, with its carbon sequestration capacity based on calculations by the Natural Resources Institute Finland. The land is owned by Wood Forest Finland, which is committed to growing and maintaining the area and ensuring its effective carbon sequestration capacity for the coming decades. The trees planted are pines, and the forest is committed to being maintained as a carbon sink for the next 100 years, with no final felling. As carbon sequestration slows, long-term carbon storage is ensured, for example, by transforming the trees into biochar or building materials.

The carbon sink is located in Jyletneva, Siikalatva (Northern Ostrobothnia). Coordinates: 64°17’37.1″N 25°43’22.4″E.

What is Carbon Offset?

Carbon offsetting is a financial compensation used to counterbalance the negative climate impacts caused by one’s own emissions. The revenues from carbon offsetting are used to reduce emissions or to increase carbon sinks.

The purpose of our carbon offset service is to compensate for the emissions caused, as well as to slow down and prevent the progression of climate change. The primary method is to reduce one’s own emissions and to offset the remaining mandatory emissions.

What is Carbon Sequestration?

Carbon dioxide is not just a gas – it’s much more than that. Carbon dioxide enables the process of photosynthesis in plants, which is essential for the formation of oxygen necessary for life. However, excessive free carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is harmful to our planet and to us. If emissions cannot be reduced, they must be compensated for.

The first step in carbon sequestration is the photosynthesis of trees and other plants. Their biomass contains about half carbon in their dry mass. As trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen – this process is known as photosynthesis.

Trees store carbon dioxide in their wood. Approximately 200 kg of carbon is bound in one cubic meter of wood. In forests, carbon is also bound in the soil and, particularly, in the peat layers of swamps. Surface vegetation also sequesters carbon.

Responsible and Authentic Actions for the Environment

Additionality – Through our carbon offset service, Wood Forest Finland plants trees in areas that would not otherwise reforest, or where reforestation would not be practical or economical. Additionally, 20% more saplings are planted than calculated to ensure the achievement of the carbon sequestration capacity.

Care – With the purchase of carbon offsets through our service, carbon sinks are maintained according to the principles of sustainable forestry. Damaged saplings are replaced, and the forests are insured.

Ownership – The land on which the trees are planted is owned by Wood Forest Finland. This ensures that the trees can grow undisturbed until the end of their natural life cycle.

Carbon Storage – As carbon sequestration slows, long-term carbon storage is ensured, for example, by converting the trees into biochar or building materials.

How to Ensure the Implementation of Compensation and Can It Be Tracked?

Compensation must be real, additional, and permanent. We overcompensate our projects to be fully confident that the compensation is fully realized. In this way, we can ensure that potential growth disturbances, despite good care, do not undermine the credibility of the carbon sink.

If the entire carbon sink were to be destroyed for some reason, such as in a widespread forest fire, a new carbon sink would be planted in the area. Forests are fertilized to maintain as efficient carbon sequestration as possible throughout their lifecycle.

Through our collaboration with Wood Forest Finland, our carbon sequestration projects are analyzed using the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) Motti application. We use only the best experts in the field as our partners and are wholeheartedly involved in the projects. Each compensation area can be located using a coordinate system.

24 Rental Network commits to publishing annual information on the realization of compensation on our website and on social media.

Where does my money go?

The funds are used to create a foundation for a carbon sink and to bind carbon. A peat bog is rehabilitated to become suitable for forest cultivation, and seedlings are planted there. The seedlings and the future forest are maintained, and supplementary planting is carried out as necessary. The new forest is committed to being maintained as a carbon sink for the next 100 years, and no final felling will be done.

A portion of your investment is used for carbon dioxide sequestration, while other expenses include the payment of value-added tax, forest management work, accounting fees, communication, and research work.

The management and all employees of 24 Rental Network are working towards a more ecological future!

As Finland’s largest car-sharing service, we bear the responsibility of acting as the ethical leader in our industry. Our family-owned business’s management and staff genuinely care about the world around us. On our Environmental Practices page, we share what we are doing for the environment. As a company, we strive to operate in all areas of our business as an entity that promotes greenness and biodiversity, a commitment that our entire management and staff have embraced. The year 2022 marks the first year we can proudly say we are also a completely carbon-neutral company.

We are involved in three different programs that allow us to overcompensate for the carbon dioxide emissions generated by our operations. You can read more about these on our Environmental Practices page. In addition, our aim is to reduce our company’s consumption every year, doing better than the previous year. In line with our set goal, we strive to be the most ecological domestic player in our field – and we likely already are. What’s most exciting for us is that now our customers can also offset the carbon footprint of their rental through our emission compensation service. This way, we can all work together in the best possible way to preserve nature’s biodiversity!

Read more and become a doner too!
WOODFOREST FINLAND: https://www.woodforest.fi/
4H TAIMITEKO: https://www.taimiteko.fi/
LUONNONPERINTÖSÄÄTIÖ: https://luonnonperintosaatio.fi/lahjoita/liity-kummiksi/