7:29 am, July 30, 2008
INCREASE your sales by reducing your carbon emissions. Sound of interest, in the current financial climate?
Well, that’s the promise of carbon management company co2balance.
Armed with its ‘CarbonZero Driving’ scheme, co2balance points to a survey by the Carbon Trust, showing that two thirds of buyers now rate a low carbon footprint as a buying factor.
So, put simply, as co2balance UK director Gary Rumbold explains, ‘we offer dealerships a way to tap into this market by offering an environmental angle to sell their cars.’
The company works with dealerships, to work out the CO2 emissions of the cars they sell, for the first year of driving. This carbon is then offset, by carbon capture or reduction schemes.
Dealers can then promote their cars as carbon zero.
‘There is huge marketing potential in selling carbon zero cars, especially in light of the growing concern over climate change, and the public demand to be able to do something about it,’ said Rumbold.
‘The feedback that we have received from dealerships is that it is has become an important part of their sales and marketing package.’
Devonshire Motors in Barnstaple was the first dealership to run the scheme, which now offers a carbon offset package with each car sold. It has now planted over 657 trees as a result of the scheme, with each customer getting a personalised certificate to mark the fact.
They’ve even created the ‘Devonshire Forest’ in Cornwall – how’s that for a marketing opportunity?
‘The trees absorb carbon as they grow’, said Rumbold, ‘but we also have energy efficiency projects in Africa that prevent the release of carbon.’
