As of Earth Day (April 22), peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace Turo plans to become the first such marketplace to offset 100 per cent of its estimated global carbon emissions.
Its commitment means two things: that it will offset emissions based on the total number of miles driven on Turo trips, and all emissions from its global office footprint. And that doing so may garner the interest of consumers for who the environment (and climate change) is an important factor when it comes to selecting a form or brand of transportation.
“Building on the organic growth of electric vehicles shared on Turo and our core mission of putting the world’s existing resources to better use, making the Turo marketplace carbon neutral is an important step towards making travel more sustainable, especially as the world emerges from the pandemic and car travel is widely considered the safest form of travel,” said Andre Haddad, CEO of Turo.
Haddad said they were proud to “double down” on their commitment to promote a greener future, and to continue championing EV and hybrid adoption.
Turo is unlikely to be the only peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace to take this approach, and automotive retailers may have their work cut-out for them as car-sharing companies find ways to regain customers they may have lost due to the pandemic and fear of contacting the COVID-19 virus. A number of EVs have also been added to Turo’s platform via its hosts.
Turo will work to reach its carbon-neutral goal through an investment in emission reduction projects — including a transportation efficiency project, and two sustainable forestry projects (one in British Columbia, and another in Alaska). The company said it selected high-quality, third-party-verified projects through its partner, Bluesource, which is a carbon offset developer.
“Bluesource is very excited to partner with the Turo team as they continue their industry-leading climate commitments and embark on this offsetting program,” said Bluesource Vice President, Ben Massie.
