Havas Lynx, a leading global healthcare communications agency, has teamed up with Carbon Footprint Ltd, to offset their carbon emissions from their international air travel. The team have promised to do this for every flight taken so far in 2017 and for every flight they take in the future.

So far this year the team have travelled 2,084,085 km on 1,126 flights which have generated 571 tonnes of greenhouse gases. As a result, the team are planting 571 trees in local schools that are located in the proximity of their UK offices. They have also pledged to protect a further 571 trees in the Amazon rainforest.

As part of their Corporate & Social Responsibility platform #High5ives, Havas Lynx wanted to take action to alleviate the impact of their business that requires teams to frequently travel around the world to deliver innovative healthcare communications for the pharmaceutical industry.

#High5ives is the CSR programme developed by Havas Lynx 3 years ago. Since the launch, the team have raised over £128,000 which has been used to send 42 children to school, build three classrooms in Rwanda and support a further 50+ charities. The team have also pledged 1,124 volunteer hours to help local charities and have donated 213 pints of blood to their local blood bank.

Tree planting is enormously beneficial to the environment and to biodiversity. Havas Lynx will exclusively be planting native broad leaf species that are particularly supportive for wildlife and are excellent at absorbing carbon dioxide to help protect our climate.

Furthermore, each tree planted is buddied with an intentionally certified carbon credit associated with protecting the rainforest in the Brazil Amazon, to guarantee the offset. In this way, Havas Lynx’s carbon offset programme is ‘planting a tree and protecting a tree’ both here in the UK and in one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, explained Claire Harper, Sustainability & Brand Director.

David Hunt, Havas Lynx CEO, commented: “Over the past 3 years, we have achieved a tremendous amount as part of the #High5ives platform. We have transformed lives and helped numerous charities around the world. Now we are looking at extending the programme to not only fundraise, but to also reduce our environmental impact. Carbon Footprint is going to help us support the environment and local communities at the same time – that is why we are delighted to work with them.”

“Predominantly we will plant trees in primary schools” added Claire, “younger children make great ambassadors for trees, biodiversity and the environment. We hope they are going to enjoy learning about the environment, measuring their trees as they grow and watching how wildlife habitats develop, as much as they enjoy the initial planting. It’s a scheme we are incredibly excited about and we can’t wait to get started.”

Carbon Footprint Ltd’s Client Director, Dr. Wendy Buckley added: “This is a great and responsible action by Havas Lynx. Deforestation is one of the most potent threats to our climate and biodiversity – by both planting and protecting trees, their business is taking proactive steps to help alleviate these threats. We are very much looking forward to working with Havas Lynx to reduce their environmental impact.”