Achieving environmental management system goals by planting trees

An environmental management system is a management tool used in several companies and organizations. Its goal is to reduce the harmful environmental effects caused by the organization. Implementing an environmental management system requires setting measurable targets and tangible actions to reach those targets. Planting trees with us is one way to achieve the set targets.

Implementing an environmental management system is creating and implementing a strategy: its purpose is to make the environmental work of the business systematic and effective.

There are several different certified environmental management systems, and using one makes your organization’s job easier. Ready-made environmental management systems enable a company to start systematically promoting its environmental responsibility, even if there is no in-house environmental expertise or familiarized staff yet.

Does an environmental management system aim at reducing carbon footprint?

Upon creating an environmental management system, the organization’s baseline and its impact on the environment are mapped out. It is then assessed how and by what means can those best be influenced. Whether choosing a certified environmental management system or a model built from scratch, it is important to define how environmental work is planned, implemented and monitored.

– If the goal is to get to zero with the carbon footprint, emissions are reduced as much as possible, and the remaining part is offset. Here a top choice is planting trees with us because our operations take into account the criteria of good compensation: additionality, permanence as well as avoiding double counting and carbon leakage, says our compensation expert Aleksi.

Seedlings purchased from the Istutapuita.fi service are planted on former peatlands, which would not become carbon sinks for decades without our compensation service. Peat is low in potassium and phosphorus but rich in nitrogen, so the vegetation growing naturally on former peatlands quickly dies due to a lack of mineral nutrients.

– By carrying out the necessary forest management measures in the peat production area and planting seedlings, we can stop the release of greenhouse gases from the peatlands. Because the forest stand absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into its biomass, our activities have both a preventive and a removing effect on the greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere. This is exactly why the afforestation of former peatlands is climate action at its best!

We calculate your corporate carbon footprint

For many companies, communicating about the adoption of an environmental management system is an important motive for the entire project. With measurable targets, the environmental work in the company becomes tangible and effective.

– When a business wants to publicly present the benefits that a change in operations has achieved, tangible actions must be taken. In this way, environmental work will become more than just talk. Planting trees is a tangible, domestic compensation act that is easy to communicate to stakeholders.

Sometimes the adoption of an environmental management system stems from outside requirements. In some branches of industry, an environmental management system is a prerequisite for participating in tenders, for example.

– In case the environmental work of your business has only just started, we can provide you with a corporate carbon footprint calculation. This way the effectiveness of environmental work can be maximized right from the get-go. In addition, we offer consulting services for emission reduction plans after the calculations are completed. For those whose carbon footprint is already known, we offer domestic, transparent and reliable compensation services to support emission reduction measures.

It is good to keep in mind that environmental work is a continuous process. It doesn’t end even if you have done a one-off emission compensation.

– Even a one-off compensation is of course better than nothing, but an environmentally responsible organization works continuously to reduce its carbon footprint, Aleksi reminds.

Check out our compensation services here.