On 26 January, GAP took part in a tree planting initiative at the Barretstown Centre in Ballymore Eustace at which 1,500 native Irish saplings were planted.
The number of saplings represented the 1,500 year anniversary of Kildare’s Saint Bridget.
1,000 of the trees planted were to mark a celebration of the successful ‘Sustainable Kildare’ project, which GAP ran with the Kildare Chamber of Commerce and Intel Ireland.
The ‘Sustainable Kildare’ climate campaigns encouraged Kildare-based businesses and their employees to reduce their carbon emissions, by making small changes to their daily activities, such as taking shorter showers, turning off unnecessary lights, and walking, using public transport, or cycling instead of driving.
Participants could log the climate friendly activities and see CO2 savings made in real time, using Global Action Plan’s Ducky app.
For the tree planting, GAP teamed up with its ‘Sustainable Kildare’ partners, as well as Barretstown, Easytreesie, the Irish Tree Council and Shamrock Spring, for the start of a project that enables communities in south Kildare and west Wicklow to undertake reforestation projects in their area.
Speaking at the tree planting ceremony, County Kildare Chamber CEO, Allan Shine said:
“This challenge raised awareness and educated participants in the idea that everyone can make a difference in the conversation around sustainability and climate action. In total, 56,106 kgCO₂e was saved during the campaigns which was achieved through participants completing 41,716 activities. If everyone in Ireland took on this challenge and achieved the same results, nearly 780,000 tonnes of CO2 would be saved. This again highlights the idea that small daily actions taken by each individual can have a hugely positive impact on the environment”.
The campaign was first launched in October 2021 and hosted by County Kildare Chamber with support from Intel Ireland. It was the first ever climate action championship to take place in Ireland.
Speaking about the campaign Intel’s Communications Manager Sarah Sexton added:
“Sustainable Kildare has created an important opportunity for businesses across the county to come together on the topic of climate action. The campaign demonstrates the power of small actions and the impact that can be made with a targeted focus. Intel was delighted to support the Chamber on this wonderful initiative, and we would like to congratulate all the participating companies”.
Global Action Plan’s CEO Hans Zomer concluded:
“At Global Action Plan we have been delighted to be able to provide the platform and content for the groundbreaking ‘Sustainable Kildare’ project. The climate challenge not only resulted in big savings in CO2 emissions, but also saw unprecedented levels of employee engagement with possible solutions to the climate crisis. County Kildare now has hundreds of new climate ambassadors, showing the power of individual action and collective behaviour change.”
