Le Groupe La Poste has taken concrete steps to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation by partnering with La Banque Postale to finance the Climat + Territoires programme.
The programme, launched in 2015, supports innovative projects that create social and environmental value in France and has three main goals:- Reducing of the Group’s environmental footprint
- Delivering environmental benefits and employment across France
- Promoting efforts to adapt to climate change
As part of the programme, six projects across France have been financed by Le Groupe La Poste and La Banque Postale. These were selected for their environmental benefits, their relationship with the local community and their potential to deliver long-term sustainability benefits. Five of these are forestry projects, covering approximately 12,000 acres of forest in total. The projects are carried out in partnership with the interregional public interest group for the development of the Massif Central (GIP Massif central) and the national center of forestry property (Centre national de la propriété forestière). The sixth, an agroforestry project named‘Agr’eau’, was launched by the French agroforestry association (Association Française d’AgroForesterie), and represents 120 acres of silviculture work. The project is reliant on local farmers and relevant technical partners.
The capture and sequestration of carbon is a key environmental benefit resulting from these projects. The forestry project represents a total sequestration of 10,830 tonnes of carbon over the duration of a silvicultural cycle, while the agroforestry project equates to the sequestration of between 1,920 and 7,200 tonnes of carbon each year. Other environmental and societal benefits associated with these projects include the protection of biodiversity, erosion control, development of environmentally-friendly forestry techniques, as well as the retention and creation of jobs in the forestry and agricultural sectors.