Almaviva little forest in Guatemala and its caretakers

After having focused its attention on reducing consumption and CO2 emissions, Almaviva decided to embark on the journey of carbon neutrality with a multi-year project whose goal is to offset and balance the CO2 that the company produces. The first step was to create a small forest in the Petén Region of Guatemala. A long-term project, to be developed over time, in which all of the company’s social and environmental initiatives are in alignment, not subsisting merely on donations, but fueled by shared visions and projects. ​

Almaviva’s hard work came to fruition in December 2019 with the planting of the first 2,000 saplings in the Petén region of Guatemala, just a stone's throw from the famous Mayan site of Tikal, and continued to progress throughout 2020 with an additional 3,000 saplings.

It is possible to follow the growth of Almaviva’s Forest “live” on its own web page, where the number of trees planted and the total amount of CO2 that has been offset can be monitored. Avocado, cedar, moringa, mango, lime, orange, matilisguate, pine, and palo blanco: each tree is geo-referenced and entrusted to an employee who has become its caretaker.

But how much is 5,000 trees? Find out by watching this video about Almaviva’s project with zeroCO2.

A far-away reality that has to do with us

Almaviva’s partner in this initiative is zeroCO2, an innovative start-up that focuses on environmental sustainability through reforestation projects that have a significant social impact, or rather those that enable the sustainable development of farming communities which live on reforested lands.

zeroCO2 is in the top 5% of B Corp certified organizations worldwide with regard to governance, which includes the company's overall mission as well as its ethics, social and environmental accountability, and transparency. This incredibly demanding certification evaluates the social and environmental impact of brands and represents a movement of companies that want to effect cultural change in the world and are committed to taking responsibility for their impact on people and the planet.

A reforestation plan involving about 200,000 trees is currently underway in Guatemala. In this project, the reforestation system adopted by zeroCO2 is known as regenerative agroforestry and involves alternating fruit trees, forest trees, and annual crops, like corn and beans, within the same plot of land.

zeroCO2 grows its plants in its nursery in Guatemala. When a trees is ready to be planted, it’s given to one of the local farming communities with whom the organization works and which, in the months leading up to the delivery, are invited to attend a training course on organic agriculture and sustainable land management that zeroCO2 has developed in collaboration with the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala. An agreement is signed between zeroCO2 and the farming families: in exchange for taking care of the trees which they have received as gifts, all of the fruits that are produced are theirs. In this way the land is reforested and a contribution is made to the communities’ livelihood and food security.

To ensure the transparency and traceability of its projects, zeroCO2 has developed CHLOE, a process that assigns each tree a unique code (which is physically attached to the plant) and makes it possible to track its movements from the nursery to the final planting site. CHLOE monitors the growth of each plant and provides its geolocation. Thus, zeroCO2’s clients can always have access to the realistic footprint of their mini-forest.

Do you want more information? Visit zeroCO2 website​.