Trees are of vital importance to many aspects of our lives. Whether it’s providing homes to thousands of insects, removing excess CO2 from our atmosphere and converting it into oxygen, preventing flooding from rivers and streams or being a natural playground for children to climb, trees support day-to-day life as we know it. We recognise the importance of reforestation, forest conservation and local tree planting to protect our planet.
At CGI UK, we’ve run a community tree planting programme since 2019; each planting season donating native British tree species to local communities across the UK. Since the programme began, the initiative has seen 10,000 trees donated, with a further 5,500 pledged for winter 2022. Combined with our 2019 reforesting of land in the Scottish Borders to help tackle climate change where 5,500 trees were planted – one for every UK member, this will see over 20,000 trees planted since 2019 by CGI either directly or through our community programme.
Our programme enables CGI members to nominate local community groups where they live and work to receive donations. Our donations in the past three years have gone to over 150 communities including nature centres and conservation groups, schools and colleges, community projects and farms, town councils, refuge centres, temples, and parks and villages.
We work with Carbon Footprint to ensure all trees donated are native British species to support local biodiversity and wildlife, encouraging nature to flourish whilst being sustainable for the future of our planet.
We've collaborated with clients, including Smart DCC, encouraging them to nominate communities to receive donations from our programme, to further the impact of our initiative and celebrate our shared environmental values. We have assisted with planting days for our communities alongside clients.
Recognising the mental health and wellbeing benefits of volunteering, we give all members one day a year to volunteer how they choose. For many, volunteering at a planting day alongside communities and clients gives them a chance to get out of the office, be part of and appreciate nature, and see first-hand the impact CGI are having on the world around them.
We look forward to our programme growing further in winter 2022.
