Tusker is on course to achieve net zero by 2023 after completing a milestone achievement in emissions offsetting.

Paul Gilshan, Tusker CEO, said that to have passed the milestone figure of a quarter of a million tonnes of CO2 offset, while on track to become net zero by the end of the year, was a huge achievement

The company has been fully carbon-neutral, as a corporate business, since 2010 thanks to its work with the Carbon Footprint scheme, and has been offsetting the carbon footprint for each car delivered since 2013.

It’s now surpassed a milestone in offsetting more than 250,000 tonnes of carbon emissions via Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) programmes in the process.

Building on this, Tusker is now expanding its carbon offsetting to include the emissions produced through the charging of its EVs, which are calculated using UK grid averages. By using the ‘worst-case scenario’ emissions in these calculations, Tusker is ensuring that it offsets appropriately for all EV customers; not just those on green energy tariffs.

While the economic and environmental benefits of EVs have already been established through salary sacrifice schemes, Tusker’s work in offsetting both corporate and all lease-car emissions renders them carbon-neutral for driving miles.

Paul Gilshan, Tusker CEO, commented: “To have passed the milestone figure of a quarter of a million tonnes of CO2 offset, while on track to become net zero by the end of the year, is a huge achievement. It’s a testament to Tusker’s ongoing commitment to the environment, and something of which we are truly proud.”

Tusker’s work to support EV take-up has already led to widespread use of zero- and low-emission vehicles among employees via salary sacrifice car benefit schemes, including at blue-chip companies and organisations in the public sector.

As a result of this push towards EV and ultra-low emission vehicles, Tusker has slashed its average fleet emissions by 65% in just two years, dropping from 107.9g/km to 31.2g/km.

Dr Wendy Buckley, co-founder of Carbon Footprint, said Tusker’s work to offset both corporate and all lease-car emissions demonstrated its reputation as a highly innovative and responsible car provider.

“Electric vehicle lease popularity has greatly increased due to salary sacrifice schemes making economic as well as environmental sense. Tusker has realised that, although zero emission at the tailpipe, EVs still have charging emissions and have responsibly chosen to offset these, rendering their entire fleet driving to be carbon-neutral.”

Tusker continues to work with VCS-accredited offsetting programmes, partnering these with tree planting schemes. For 2022, the business is using a programme which will counter deforestation in the Amazon through protecting trees in South America, while planting trees in the UK.

Tusker’s emissions reduction work also targets its employees; the inhouse fleet car policy is restricted to green or EVs only and its hybrid working policy further reduces the travel emissions of the business as a whole.