3 minute read 17 Feb 2022

Colleagues plant 5000 trees to create new forest in Ostend

By EY Belgium

Multidisciplinary professional services organization

3 minute read 17 Feb 2022

EY Belgium pledges to plant two trees for every EY employee in Belgium

February 12th marked the start of our campaign to plant no less than 5,000 trees, extending Ostend’s Stadsrandbos by 2 hectares. The trees were planted by EY employees and family members in collaboration with the Life Terra Foundation and BOS+. This initiative is fully in line with our sustainability ambition as planting trees is the most cost-effective, nature-based solution for capturing carbon. Europe-wide, EY has already committed to planting no less than 80,000 trees.

This tree planting action is to honor our pledge of planting two trees for every EY employee in Belgium. By doing so, we're making a contribution to create a new forest in Ostend and extending the Stadsrandbos by 2 hectares. Patrick Rottiers, CEO EY Belgium: “Climate change is one of the most important – but also one of the most complex – challenges of our day. As businesses contribute to global CO2 emissions, we believe that as an organization we have a responsibility to act faster and do more: we want to reduce and offset more CO2 each year than we emit. Businesses collectively have the financial resources, technological capabilities, global reach and innovative capacity to find new solutions for a low-carbon future and in doing so prevent further irreversible damage to our planet. Together we have the resources and the responsibility to act now. I am proud that today, together with many EY colleagues, we are actively contributing to a sustainable initiative by literally rolling up our sleeves. Apart from that, it is also great to get outdoors and see our colleagues face to face again.”

EY Belgium pledges to plant two trees for every EY employee in Belgium and in doing so adds no less than 5000 trees to a new forest in Ostend.

EY has partnered with the Life Terra Foundation and their local partner Bos+ for this tree planting campaign. “Life Terra wants to bring people together to plant 500 million trees, and enable citizens to take concrete action against the climate crisis. Fortunately, we can count on companies like EY to support us. EY has made a tremendous effort to fund tree planting campaigns in no fewer than 114 countries”, says Limore Noach, director of the Life Terra Foundation.

Even though our commitment is clear, we rely on the afforestation expertise of partners such as Life Terra and Bos+. By finding land to plant they have enabled us to better assume our social responsibility and to provide more woodland. It is a win-win for all parties and for the world we live in.

However, the tree planting campaign is only one of many sustainability initiatives EY is taking. In addition we are fully committed to cutting back business travel and greening our company fleet with the aim of a 70% hybrid of fully electric fleet within three years. Firmly embedding teleworking and virtual meetings into our company culture is another concrete example of our efforts towards a more sustainable future. 

Colleagues plant 5000 trees
Colleagues plant 5000 trees
Colleagues plant 5000 trees
Colleagues plant 5000 trees
Colleagues plant 5000 trees
Colleagues plant 5000 trees
Colleagues plant 5000 trees
Colleagues plant 5000 trees

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Summary

Several colleagues committed to EY Belgium’s pledge to plant two trees for every EY employee in Belgium. Together with the Life Terra Foundation and  BOS+ EY is planting 5000 trees to contribute 2 hectares to a new forest in Ostend.

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By EY Belgium

Multidisciplinary professional services organization