European Geotabbers donate trees to reforest Roetgen

Establishing sustainable and environmental initiatives within organizations is gaining in popularity as ‘going green’ has become more important to employees around the world.

While promoting sustainable awareness and efforts may be new to some companies, this is not a new practice at Geotab. We have focused on environmental responsibility through business development and implementing internal groups, programs and corporate social responsibility efforts that allow our employees to share their passion for sustainability.

See also: 30 tips for a green fleet strategy

Geotab Cares

Geotab’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, Geotab Cares, focuses on supporting four major categories:

• STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
• Safety
• Community
• The environment

Geotab is passionate about these areas as they help our company and our Geotabbers give back to our communities to help create a better world for everyone to live.

Our environment initiatives and CSR efforts range from in-office practices to charitable giving and volunteering. Our Geotabbers have previously completed CSR initiatives like picking up trash at local parks, donating office electronics to the Blind Center of Nevada and establishing advanced in-office recycling programs for wrappers and compost. We encourage our employees to actively seek ways to showcase Geotab’s commitment to global sustainability and environmental efforts.

European Geotabbers get in on the “go green” action

Recently, our Geotabbers in Europe have also found a way to give back to their community by replanting trees in a local forest. Following one of Geotab’s core values, ‘always do the right thing’, our Geotabbers in Europe discovered a project that was looking for donations to reforest a large area in the Roetgen forest in Germany.

In 2019, an area the size of 65 football fields in the forest was destroyed by a tornado, and caused more than one million dollars in damage in roughly 4 minutes. Tornados are not native to this region in Germany, but due to climate change, weather conditions have become more extreme.

The team felt this project was a great opportunity for Geotab to not only assist in environmental efforts, but also to get involved in their local community by donating 500 trees to the Roetgen forest.

Planting donated trees in Roetgen forest

In March 2021, Geotab employees were able to put their tree donation to use. They met with a Ranger at the Roetgen forest to become familiar with the damaged area and see the impact the tornado had caused on the wildlife. Although it was devastating to see the harm that such extreme weather conditions can cause, the team was eager to get involved and learn more about the local forest.

Following proper COVID-19 guidelines for their region, Geotabbers were able to gather and plant over 100 oak, beech and cherry trees personally within the Roetgen forest.

See also: Geotab’s commitment to plant 50,000 trees with One Tree Planted

Geotabber spotlight

One of the Geotabbers that helped support the Roetgen forest reforestation project is Laura Schleicher. She is part of our Marketing department by day and an environmental activist by night. She also participates in Geotab’s GO Green team, an internal committee made up of employees from around the world who are passionate about sustainability, educating fellow Geotabbers and driving internal green initiatives.

“Our team deeply cares about the environment and our local communities. We were shocked at the devastating consequences that the tornado had on our natural surroundings, but we were grateful to be able to give back to nature and our community by restoring part of the forest together, as a team,” said Laura Schleicher.

To see more of Geotab’s green initiatives and CSR efforts, follow @InsideGeotab on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Speaking of our Geotabbers, did you know that we have a Geotab team in Europe? We do and we’re hiring! Geotab has offices in the U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Spain.