Greenroad Offset your car's carbon footprint

WHEREIS' GREENROAD TO HELP OFFSET YOUR CAR'S CARBON FOOTPRINT FOR FREE

If you love the idea of greener living but don't know where to start, Whereis®' new GreenRoad campaign can help make your next car trip more environmentally friendly.

Australia's leading mapping site www.whereis.com, is making it easier for Australians to do their bit for the environment by letting them plan and offset the carbon emissions of their road travel, and have Whereis® foot the bill.

To get involved, you need to register on www.thegreenroad.com.au and plan your next car trip before August 6th. Once you've completed all the details regarding your trip, the estimated carbon emissions of your journey will be calculated and offset by Whereis®, in partnership with GreenFleet, through the planting of trees in native forests.

By offsetting up to 200km of the estimated carbon emissions of participating drivers, Whereis® expects the GreenRoad campaign to result in more than 17,700 trees being planted and around 4.7 tonnes of carbon being offset.

"The GreenRoad campaign aims to demystify carbon offsetting for Australians and demonstrate how easy it is to do something positive for the environment," Whereis® Commercial Manager, Fred Curtis said. "The GreenRoad makes it easy for people to ensure their journeys are carbon neutral. It takes just a few mouse clicks to lower the harmful greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming," he said.

Duncan Bridge, spokesperson for the not-for-profit GreenFleet, is keen to see more Australians accounting for their carbon footprint and supporting tree planting, which is a natural way for carbon to be taken out of the atmosphere.

"Australians are among the worst offenders with extremely high rates of carbon emissions per capita causing global warming and serious environmental consequences," Mr Bridge said.

"Driving just 200 kilometres each week will produce almost three tonnes of greenhouse gases each year. And while we recommend reducing the number of journeys made by car, carbon offsetting is an easy way for their negative impacts to be neutralized," he said.

The GreenRoad initiative coincides with the re-launch of the www.whereis.com site which now offers new interactive features delivering a smoother, faster experience with innovative functionality for the 2.8 million people who use the site on average each month.

Whereis.com is owned by Sensis who will publish their third sustainability report in August 2008 and has announced they will participate in the Corporate Responsibility Index in order to publicly benchmark against other major companies across Australia.