It’s full steam ahead for tech company Global Payment Technologies (GPT) as it moves swiftly in its mission to plant a greener future for Mzansi by end of November. GPT volunteers recently took time to plant trees at a special event at Tswellang Special Intermediate School in Bloemfontein.
South Africa is the 12th highest emitter of pollutants responsible for climate change.
Mzansi needs more than just a curbing of its national carbon footprint to avoid further climate-induced disasters such as the April 2022 KwaZulu-Natal floods and landslides that caused the death of 448 people and destroyed 12 000 homes, says Food & Trees For Africa.
According to Chris Wild, the executive director at Food & Trees for Africa, South Africa requires a transition to a green economy, as well as increased investment in nature-based solutions if it is to slow climate change. Tree-planting is among some of the most effective nature-based strategies for sequestering carbon emissions that contribute to South Africa’s emissions.
“Water retention and flood management, carbon sequestration and ecosystem services are seriously undervalued benefits provided by trees. Trees make communities and the environment more resilient to climate change,” says Wild.
‘Full steam ahead’
At the start of 2022, GPT embarked on a journey with Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA) to help restore some of South Africa’s lost natural heritage, beginning with FTFA’s afforestation project in the Kologha Forest in Stutterheim, Eastern Cape.
GPT’s overall smart environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy involves a long-term tree-planting partnership with FTFA that has been rolled out throughout 2022 as it reaches completion this month.
“People are the centre of our business and are thus a critical resource that needs to be nurtured, developed and supported. The need to invest in our collective prosperity and enhance every aspect of our world for a greener future has become a critically important imperative,” says Lise Reed, GPT’s transformation and human resources manager.
Since the beginning of the year, 1 270 trees have been planted across four provinces. GPT secured the sequestration of 468,63 tonnes of carbon dioxide through this partnership thus far, demonstrating their commitment to a carbon-neutral, climate-resilient future:
- Afforestation in the Eastern Cape in June and August 2022: 460 trees, offsetting approximately 169,74 tonnes of CO₂
- Tree-planting throughout the Western Cape in August 2022: 270 trees, offsetting approximately 99,63 tonnes of CO₂
- Tree-planting throughout KwaZulu-Natal in September 2022: 270 trees, offsetting approximately 99,63 tonnes of CO₂
- Tree-planting throughout the Free State in October 2022: 270 trees, offsetting approximately 99,63 tonnes of CO₂
‘Worst is yet to come’
According to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), predictions indicate that critical global warming levels are likely to arrive within the next two decades.
“We have recognised that the consequences of climate change will be catastrophic for the world, and for South Africa in particular,” says department of environment, forestry and fisheries (DFFE) minister Barbara Creecy. A National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy has been developed, and the government has introduced a carbon tax targeting the carbon-intensive sector.
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