Wartburg Woods – Two-stroke car club starts unique carbon offsetting scheme
Published: 22/12/2021
Former ‘iron curtain’ cars have become the UK’s first classic car club to commit to a long-term project to plant trees in Britain to offset its carbon emissions.
The Wartburg Trabant IFA Club UK (IFA Club) has bought a ‘grove’ of trees - which it is calling Wartburg Woods – and committed to annually planting sufficient trees to offset the carbon generated by its events.
It is also encouraging supporters to match the number of trees planted each year, to bring the Wartburg Woods’ total to 40 trees a year, calculated to be the entire UK carbon footprint by the club’s Iron Curtain classics.
Members are also encouraged to plant trees in Wartburg Woods to offset the carbon from their ‘normal cars’.
“We cannot ignore climate change and have set ourselves an objective to reduce our carbon footprint and become a carbon neutral operation,” says club chairman Mel Holley.
“Classic cars are great fun – especially our quirky rides – but two-strokes in particular have a poor reputation. We aim to change that and ensure that our enjoyable club events are carbon neutral.”
To offset the carbon generated by 1,000 miles Trabant driving, the club needs to plant 1.1 trees a year, or 1.3 trees a year for a Wartburg.
“To calculate the carbon footprint for cars it’s not about tailpipe emissions, but the total amount of fuel used. In simple terms, that is one tree for every 100 litres of fuel used,” explains Mel Holley.
Each tree costs £6 and can be bought online in the dedicated Grove as a one-off or with monthly direct debit at https://treesforlife.org.uk/groves/373342/
“We’ve already had a positive response from members, and they have joined in endorsing our commitment,” adds Mel Holley.
The IFA Club is the home of eastern bloc classics and its 300 members in the UK and Republic of Ireland have vehicles covering a remarkable 41 makes, produced before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
For more information please visit: www.ifaclub.co.uk
