Since January, we have been partnering with Ecologi to offset the carbon emissions that Cerberus as a business produces and cannot currently avoid.
We are now very excited to announce that we will plant 10 trees for free with every new Cerberus broadband connection. This includes all new services to Cerberus – activations and migrations.
As we have said before, we know that tree planting is no substitute for carbon offsets or reducing our operating emissions. The trees we plant today will not be able to suck up carbon at any scale for 8-10 years and, as any climate scientist will tell you, we don’t need emissions cuts or carbon sequestration in 10 years – we need it right now. But planting trees, responsibly and in harmony with existing ecosystems can do three critical things.
Firstly, it can create the platform for large scale natural carbon sequestration in the future. This is something that is going to required regardless of what the world can achieve on carbon emission reductions in the short and medium term. The best case scenario is that we will overshoot the targets of the Paris Accords to keep temperature increase to 1.5C and we will need massive carbon sequestration efforts to reduce carbon concentrations in the atmosphere for decades after we get to “net zero”.
Second, tree planting can help restore ecosystems and provide habitat for vulnerable species. These ecosystems can also protect against secondary effects of climate change like wind damage and flooding by protecting land and regulating water flow across the land.
Thirdly, tree planting and management can provide a long term source of income to poor, vulnerable, front-line communities and give them a viable alternative to logging or other destructive practices.
Working with Ecologi, we automatically plant your 10 trees as soon as your connection is activated and we will tell you when this happens. We also give you a link to our Ecologi profile page which links to and shows you your trees specifically. This tells you about the project they are part of and it also tracks their progress as they grow. You can also see a link to your trees in the relevant Service Details page in our NetCONNECT portal.
This tree planting does not replace the offsets that Cerberus purchases to offset its own emissions nor does it replace the offsets that are generously funded by our clients using our NetZero Broadband programme.
Additionally, you can now see the total number of trees planted by us in the footer of our website as well as the total offsets we have purchased on our page on climate change.
Our vision is to let clients see the tangible, positive activities that they are funding through their choice to use Cerberus Networks, and to connect people to the opportunities to make that positive impact through more and more interactions with us. We will continue to look for ways to engage with clients on these issues and to do what we can as a business to have a net-positive impact on the environment. We see this a critical responsibility of every business at this time of climate and ecological emergency and a central part of our legacy as a business.