Young Driver offers ‘carbon negative’ lessons for Under 17s
Following a journey to become carbon neutral in 2019, a national driving programme for under-17s has become what it claims is the first driving school to offer carbon negative driving lessons in the UK.
Young Driver, which teaches 10-17 year olds how to drive at 70 venues across the country, is offsetting carbon produced by the electricity and heating fuel it uses at its venues and head office with the annual planting of 1,500 broadleaf trees in the Heart of England Forest.
Given that driving by its very nature creates emissions, Young Driver is also offsetting the carbon on the fuel it uses in its vehicles through the Shell Go+ rewards programme. Every time instructors fill up any Young Driver vehicle at a Shell station, Shell offsets the emissions by purchasing carbon credits generated from projects that protect and regenerate forests. Last year Young Driver vehicles used almost 200,000 litres of fuel.
In addition, Young Driver has planted a further 500 oak trees and a wildflower meadow for bees and wildlife at its nine-acre Warwickshire HQ. The land has been used for some time to provide a rehoming sanctuary for ponies and donkeys and as a site for encouraging owls and kestrels.
Says Sue Waterfield, head of marketing at Young Driver:
“We’ve been working very hard to ensure we limit our impact on the environment, and we’re delighted that we can now offer carbon negative driving lessons. The planting and other green initiatives we have in place, along with the offsetting of our fuel by the Shell Go+ rewards programme, means we are removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than our lessons create. Young people today are rightly very environmentally conscious and it’s important that we all do what we can to protect the planet.”
Young Driver has also become a Shell Go+ rewards programme partner, providing a 10% discount off lessons to customers who are signed up to the scheme.
To find out more about Young Driver visit www.youngdriver.com.
