1 CHF For The Climate

Enabling consumers and businesses to offset the carbon footprint of their food and support the local economy : these are the objectives of the " 1 CHF for the climate" initiative created by the non - profit organisation Webeelong and led by Simon Hude , project manager

Passionate about everything related to sustainability and the environment, I joined the Webeelong Association after finishing my studies at EHL in February 2021 at the age of 25. Piloting this project is a great entrepreneurial experience that is very formative as it is never easy to launch a new concept like this.

How does it work ? It ' s simple : the consumer who eats in a partner restaurant sees his bill increased by a small franc , which is redistributed to local producers in the form of vouchers to the restaurant owners (40%) and to tree planting in Switzerland (45%). The remaining 15% goes to the association to keep the project alive .

By favouring the short circuit, the consumer reduces the environmental impact of his meal; and by allowing reforestation, he offsetspartofthisimpactbycapturingCO ₂ .Wewanttostrengthenthe synergy between the consumer, the restaurant owner and the producer.Everyoneshouldbenefitfromthis.

The initiative is also known as "the carafe that plants trees" because most restaurant owners see it as a simple and symbolic way of charging for their water carafes, which have often been offeredinthepast.

Launched last summer, the initiative already has some fifty restaurant and hotel partners and twenty or so suppliers , mainly in Frenchspeaking Switzerland , and is set to be extended to the rest of Switzerland .

Thousands Of Trees To Be Planted Soon

A pilot phase in partnership with the École Hôtelière de Lausanne' s food court has already made it possible to plant a hundred trees in April 2021. The second planting (200 trees ), supervised for the choice of locations and species by Almighty Tree , took place on 1 April in Froideville ( VD ), and the following ones should follow every six months .

Of the 8,000 or so establishments based in French-speaking Switzerland, it seems realistic to us that 1.5% of them, or 120, will take partintheprogrammebytheendoftheyear,"announcesSimonHude. This should make it possible to plant around 7,000 trees or the equivalent of 2,000 tonnes of CO ₂ . Without any constraints, the restaurant owners thus contribute to giving back a little oxygen to the planet.