Winding Back the Carbon Clock

Peugeot have commissioned the Global Carbon Exchange (GCX) to analyse the carbon footprint created during a drive across South Africa initiated by two former rally car drivers to test the fuel efficiency of the Peugeot 308HDi.

Drivers Andrew Carter and Spotti Woodhead drove from coast to coast, approximately 1687.9 kilometres from Kleinzee to Umhlanga on a single 60l tank of diesel in the Coast2Coast event. Following the events success, Peugeot approached the GCX to perform an audit on the ecological impact of the actual event, the organisational activities prior to the event and the guests who attended.

The GCX looked at the drive and the activities around the drive which included carbon emissions produced in the testing stages before the event, the travel emissions produced by the guests travelling to the event, the accommodation of the guests and the  energy requirements for the event.

Overall, the total carbon emissions for the event amounted to 6.18 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide. With the various activities broken into percentages, the largest factor was the initial testing phase. Carter and Woodhead, drove over 24, 000 km during the testing phase on a variety of routes, including a mock-run of the Total Economy Run and numerous trips between Durban and Johannesburg.

The testing accounted for more than half of the emissions produced. Coming a close second was the guest’s air travel, wherein each passengers’ emissions was treated as a proportional share of the plane’s total fuel use and emissions. A 9 percent “uplift factor” was added to the aircrafts’ total mileage, and any guest who had other business in the area had their contribution to the emission halved.

Peugeot have chosen to erase the carbon footprint left behind by purchasing trees from the Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA), a non-profit organisation dedicated to a sustainable development in poorer communities, creating understanding of and reducing carbon emissions through numerous programmes.

Jeunesse Park, founder and CEO of FTFA said: “the Coast2Coast challenge is an eye-catching concept that highlights a number of environmental issues that we are determined to keep on the public agenda. For too long, concerns that we are thoughtlessly degrading the planet and our environment remained fringe issues, but now they are starting to take centre stage. The Coast2Coast plays its part in highlighting vital environmental concerns that are a matter of dire consequence for people around the world.”

The amount of carbon dioxide a tree is able to store depends on a number of factors, including species and location, GCX have worked on the basis that a tree will offset 500kg of carbon dioxide over a 15 year period. They have also taken into account the fact that often, up to 40 percent of the trees do not survive the 15 year period.

Based on these calculations Peugeot will purchase 18 trees from the FTFA, which will be planted at a special ceremony at one of their corporate social investment projects in Orange Farm outside of Johannesburg

CEO of GCX Kevin James commented on the importance of carbon emission monitoring and Peugeot’s approach to the Coast2Coast event, “What Peugeot have done is very forward thinking. Carbon emission audits are definitely an emerging market, and companies are seeking the opportunity to differentiate themselves through conducting business in a sustainable way.”

“An event like this is still about promoting your product - and it is an activity that should be offset by purchasing carbon credits in some form to reduce the carbon impact. I think one of the things that an audit ultimately does is create awareness that every action has consequences.

“Peugeot is the first vehicle manufacturer to contact us with regard to a carbon emission audit, and in these trying economic times - where many car manufacturers are focusing purely on reducing costs and increasing sales - I believe they can pat themselves on the back for still taking the initiative to determine the impact.”