Europe’s leading online fashion platform retailer Zalando and Land Life Company, a tech-driven reforestation company, have teamed up to plant over 300,000 trees to capture 80,000 tons of CO2. They have just completed their first tree planting together in Spain, as part of the collaboration.
Rebekah Braswell, Land Life Company CCO: “This collaboration is so exciting as it extends the consumer sustainability experience from the purchase to delivery to fundamental questions about what type of consumers we want to be. Zalando already informs its customers how they can buy more sustainable products, how they can opt-in to offset the emissions of their delivery, and now, how they can have a positive and tangible impact on this planet through reforestation as well.”
The reforestation program will take place over two years and be fully completed by the Spring of 2022. The initial planting is already finished, with more to follow by this April.
The first trees were planted in Grisel, located in the region of Aragón, with 16,600 trees, of which are ten native species that will enhance biodiversity and help prevent soil erosion. The planting site was first deforested from grazing and then farming. The land was ultimately abandoned and unused half a century ago, leaving it struggling to naturally regenerate.
By April, this collaboration will have planted a total of 26,000 trees on 26.5 hectares of degraded land, which is the size of 37 European football fields. The planting next year will be much larger in scale and impact, bringing the total number of trees to over 300,000.
Zalando announced their do.MORE sustainability strategy in 2019, pledging to reduce its operational carbon emissions by 80% against a 2017 base year and committing to have 90% of its suppliers set science based targets (SBTs), both by 2025.
Kate Heiny, Zalando Director Sustainability: “Our vision is to be a sustainable fashion platform with a net-positive impact on people and the planet, and that means that we give back more than we take. Using nature-based solutions for carbon capture and regenerating natural systems pays into our do.MORE strategy and allows us to build up important partnerships. With Land Life Company, we have found a partner who shares our vision and provides technological solutions to regenerate land. By co-developing this reforestation project in Spain, we have the chance to support local communities in one of our key markets.”