Eco-Friendly Builders' Merchant Donates To The Rainforest Trust

The UK's leading environmentally-friendly builders' merchant is celebrating five years of supporting the Rainforest Trust to help save the planet's rapidly disappearing forests and wildlife. 

EnviroBuild is making its annual donation to the non-profit organisation, not only to fund crucial projects but also to offset the carbon footprint of its own production processes since the company was founded in 2015.

The London-based supplier has been donating 10% of its profits to the trust for the past five years. To date, it has helped to protect almost 63 million trees and has supported multiple Rainforest Trust projects.

With more than 60 years' experience in the construction industry, EnviroBuild aims to provide top-quality products, without the negative environmental impact of traditional materials. Its latest donation will help fund green initiatives across Africa, South America, Central America and Asia, protecting more than 65,000 acres of habitat.

These have included safeguarding the threatened snow leopard in the Himalayas, creating a Bonobo reserve for the endangered great ape in the Congo and helping to reintroduce Spix’s Macaw into the wild after it became extinct, apart from 160 birds surviving in captivity worldwide.

James Brueton, co-founder of EnviroBuild and trustee at Rainforest Trust, said: "EnviroBuild have supported Rainforest Trust UK since launching five years ago. We think it's one of the highest positive impacts per pound of donation causes.

"Each protected area helps to protect biodiversity and engages local communities, whilst also helping to combat climate change by protecting primary forests from being destroyed through the many threats that face them today.

"As a business that supplies products that will always carry some form of carbon footprint, it is vital for us to find ways to offset these. From the beginning, we have aimed for EnviroBuild to be carbon negative through the reduction of embedded carbon in our products and through charitable donations."

He added they were happy to support such a wide range of projects in 2020, across a diverse range of habitats and locations. The donations will protect habitats including dense jungle, coastal waters and mountainous tundra.

Everyone working at EnviroBuild cast one vote to their preferred project to decide where the donations should go. The funds were divided up based on the votes.

A unique partnership in 2020 between Rainforest Trust and EnviroBuild's garden furniture brand, Galleon, also meant up to 7.17 acres of rainforest were protected per garden furniture set sold, in addition to the usual 10% donation of company profits.

Having started out by donating to one project in 2015, company bosses have seen the number of projects they can support growing year after year. To date, including the donations in 2020, they have supported 32 projects, protecting more than 247,704 acres of rainforests and oceans.

Ten projects will benefit from the latest annual donations, including saving the critically endangered blue-throated macaw of Bolivia, protecting Colombia’s Barbacoas wetlands - a vital winter habitat for migratory birds - and creating a 150-acre protected wildlife area in Nepal's TMJ Rhododendron Forest.

Donations will support endangered sealife in the Congo and rescue South Africa's most threatened snake, the Albany Adder. Three at-risk conservation areas will also be helped: "sky island" on Mount Namuli in Mozambique, Liberia's only surviving 406,913-acre forest and the Amazon-Cerrado Rainforest in Brazil.

The Rainforest Trust partners with local and community organisations in vulnerable areas around the world to carry out its vital work. It buys large expanses of forested land and then manages it in a sustainable manner to benefit not only the local wildlife but the people who live in the area too.

Sustainability is at the heart of the EnviroBuild brand, which uses only recycled materials to manufacture its products. It aims to be as ethical a supplier of building materials as possible, encouraging people to buy products made from recycled wood to reduce the need for logging.

It also aims to raise awareness of the escalating climate crisis to help prevent further deterioration of the rainforests.

When starting EnviroBuild in 2015, James knew how important it was to offset the company’s carbon footprint. As a result, Rainforest Trust quickly became the main sustainable cause the company supported every year.

He finds working for a sustainable company boosts employee morale. "By giving everyone at EnviroBuild the choice of where they’d like to see a part of the donations go, we hope to show their hard work is making a difference to the environment," he explained.

"We hope the Rainforest Trust projects we support will receive all the necessary funding in time. If all the projects are supported, this will save over two million acres of rainforest and other habitats, which all store a large amount of CO2e, helping to combat climate change and protect unique biodiversity and communities."

Through raising awareness of the climate crisis, EnviroBuild hopes to help prevent further deterioration of the rainforests, creating a better tomorrow for future generations.

Source : EnviroBuild

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