Sustainability is one of the Mobility Cooperative’s core principles, which makes sense given that car sharing is, by definition, sustainable. But even car sharing causes CO₂ emissions. This is why an initiative was launched some time ago giving customers the chance to donate three centimes for every kilometre they travel as a “Cause We Care” climate contribution. Mobility then doubles each donation to six centimes. For car sharing users, the extra costs are negligible: based on an annual total distance travelled of 400 kilometres, customers will pay just 12 Swiss francs more. The impact, on the other hand, is considerable.
All aboard the electric fleet. Destination: net zero
The myclimate foundation has been commissioned to make sure “Cause We Care” donations are being used as intended. Mobility invests three quarters of the money for its own sustainability projects, whilst the other quarter goes to the foundation, which, in return, supports national and international climate protection projects on behalf of Mobility.
“In terms of our internal sustainability measures, we are pressing ahead with the electrification of 3’000 Mobility cars and parking spaces”, explains Roland Beyeler, business development project manager and sustainability officer. By 2030, the plan is for the fleet to consist solely of electric vehicles. This will see Mobility reduces its CO₂ emissions considerably and take it a big step closer to its goal of becoming a net zero company.
Through its partnership with the myclimate foundation, Mobility lends it support to one national and one international project. “Establishing climate protection projects in Switzerland is often more expensive and more time-consuming than in an international context”, Roland Beyeler adds. “The careful selection of one Swiss and one Madagascan project maximises the positive impact of the voluntary donations made by Mobility customers”.
Fighting deforestation with solar cookers
The Swiss-Madagascan organisation ADES (Association pour le Développement de l'Energie Solaire) has been producing solar and energy-saving cookers in Madagascar since 2001 and supplies them to the local population at a fair price. Some 90% of the island’s original forests have been lost, whilst families spend up to a quarter of their household income on firewood. ADES cookers are resource-conserving and significantly reduce wood and charcoal consumption, meaning they help to combat further deforestation.
Removing COâ‚‚ through forest conservation measures
For the second project, the fund is supporting climate-optimised forest management practices in the canton of Grisons. By choosing not to exploit timber in an area of woodland in the Prättigau and Davos region, forestry practices there are being optimised for the climate, permanently removing CO₂ from the atmosphere. After all, forests are major carbon stores. When trees grow, they remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and store the carbon in their biomass and in the ground. They are what we call carbon sinks and form important pillars of local and international climate protection initiatives.
In 2022, Mobility and its customers raised around 1.3 million Swiss francs for the “Cause We Care” fund. As it happens, around 40% of all journeys make a contribution towards protecting the climate. The environment and Mobility say thank you!
How to donate
How can I as a car sharing user donate the three centimes? You have two options:
First option: Existing users can choose between: Either clicking on the “Cause We Care” box in the Mobility app when making a reservation. This means that an additional three centimes per kilometre will be charged from this journey onwards. Or going online to the customer portal and, under “Additional services”, selecting general additional billing, which will automatically add a “Cause We Care” donation to your bill for each journey.
Second option: When setting up their Mobility subscription, new users can arrange for a “Cause We Care” contribution to be factored in for each journey by default.
Reaching the Paris Agreement goals together
One way or another, every single centime helps bring us a step closer to reaching the targets set out in the Paris Climate Accords. The agreement established the goal of reducing worldwide net greenhouse gas emissions to zero in the second half of this century. The aim is to limit global warming to as close to 1.5 °C as possible, and considerably under 2 °C, compared with pre-industrial times.
As a sustainable business, Mobility is playing its part in helping achieve this target, which is so important for humanity – and welcomes support from customers.
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