Colas renews its partnership with the Forest & Life tree-planting program
As part of the biodiversity component of its low-carbon strategy, Colas, a partner of the Forest & Life educational and teaching program since 2021, has just renewed its commitment for a further 3 years. This program, run by the Kinomé organization, gives schoolchildren the chance to play an active part in restoring the forests in their area and to raise their awareness of environmental issues by planting at least one tree each.
The first action took place this Thursday, 21 November: employees from the Colas operational unit in Annecy accompanied 145 primary school students to plant 800 trees in the Bois des Îles in Poisy. In addition, after supporting Ivory Coast for 2 years, Colas will continue its commitment on the island of Madagascar, which began in 2024.
The principle behind this partnership is simple: for every tree planted in the northern hemisphere, 2 are planted in an endangered forest in countries of the southern hemisphere. Since the initiative began, 4 reforestation projects have been completed. The first 2 plantings were carried out in Yvelines and Sarthe (over the 2021-2022 period), followed by a third in Vaucluse (over the 2022-2023 period), all linked to Ivory Coast.
The fourth planting carried out over the 2023-2024 period took place in the Doubs region, in partnership with Madagascar. It has enabled the rehabilitation of a mangrove in a village in the south-west of the island, which has been disrupted by climate change and population growth. This project is supported by the Eau de Coco association, which works to improve the living conditions of marginalized people in southern Madagascar.
In total, over 3 years of partnership, 7,000 trees have been planted in France and 15,000 seedlings have been sponsored in Ivory Coast and Madagascar, with the participation of 600 children in the 3 countries. Around 50 Colas employees took part in the educational planting alongside the students.
"Preserving biodiversity and reducing our carbon footprint are priority issues in our business. Our teams are proud to take part in these local reforestation operations, to contribute to the preservation of their territory and to accompany the children in this step towards raising awareness of eco-citizenship", says Anne-Laure Levent, Environment Director at Colas.
By renewing its commitment for a further 3 years, Colas is pursuing its aim of reforesting multifunctional forest areas, raising awareness of environmental protection among young schoolchildren and encouraging cultural exchanges between them, while enabling Group employees to get involved locally.
For more than 10 years, Colas has been rolling out a biodiversity strategy aimed at developing and promoting ecological niches while preserving emblematic species in its quarries. The aim is to extend these actions to all our sites, including industrial sites, by carrying out ecological assessments to define measures tailored to the needs of local flora and fauna. These initiatives include creating eco-meadows, reinforcing existing hedges and installing shelters to encourage biodiversity.
