ACS signs donation document with Jessica Ylstra & Maxime Kosterman

ACS GIVES ADDITIONAL DONATION TO JUSTDIGGIT

ACS is proud to announce their additional donation to the Justdiggit programme. Increasing the total amount of land that ACS is committed to regreen to 900,000 m2.

Justdiggit’s mission is to cool down the planet by regreening African landscapes. ACS has been in partnership with Justdiggit since 2022, and is comitted to supporting their efforts in Kuku, Kenya.  

HOW JUSTDIGGIT WORKS

Justdiggit believes that 37% of the climate problem can be solved by applying nature-based solutions. Justdiggit works closely with local partners and communities to restore dry areas of land. Proven regreening techniques include rainwater harvesting (digging bunds), tree restoration (Kisiki Hai / FMNR), and developing grass seed banks. All of their projects are owned and implemented by communities that live off the land.

These projects give nature a hand in bringing back vegetation in degraded areas. The presence of vegetation keeps the soil healthy and fertile, which allows plants and trees to keep on growing. When vegetation returns, it can help to restore an entire area and in turn the community it supports!

FIND OUT MORE

ACS is very proud of this partnership and invites you to read some more about Justdiggit’s programmes across Africa.

Learn more about ACS’s sustainability activity on our CSR web page.

 

EMBRACING OUR RESPONSIBILITIES

ACS has been fully embracing its responsibilities towards the planet and society for many years as an active participant of the UN’s Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs). It has been a member of the UN Global Compact Group since 2011, and signed the event industry Net Zero Carbon pledge.

ACS believes that corporate sustainability starts with a company’s value system and a principles-based approach to doing business. This means ACS operates in ways that meet fundamental obligations in respect to human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.

 

MEASURING OUR CO2 EMISSIONS

ACS has been measuring its CO2 emissions since 2019, appointed a Sustainability Manager in 2022 and in the same year started working with the Climate Neutral Group (CNG), an independent organisation dedicated to helping companies reach a Net Zero carbon footprint by 2050.

The CNG climate experts use innovative tools to make credible and transparent carbon emission measurements. Due to the covid lockdown years, it was not possible to make comparable measurements in 2020 and 2021. In 2022 however, CNG made a complete and thorough analysis and report of ACS’s carbon footprint, which allowed ACS to fully offset its carbon emissions for the first time in 2023.

 

OFFSETTING OUR CARBON EMISSIONS

This was achieved by carefully selecting, sustainable impact projects that reduce CO2 on location in developing countries. With the advice and guidance from CNG, ACS made a Gold Standard offsetting investment into cookstoves across Africa. These cookstoves not only reduce CO2 on location, but also contribute significantly to improve people’s health, their domestic lives and the environment.

ACS is very aware that reducing its CO2 emissions is the most important element in achieving a Net Zero target, but some emissions are externally controlled, and cannot be reduced further. So for the short term; the only way to currently achieve a zero-carbon target is through investment offsetting.

TOGETHER with Justdiggit, we are regreening up to 460,000 m2 of desert in Kuku, Kenya, and ACS is delighted to share the impact this partnership creates!


WHY JUSTDIGGIT?

ACS is and has been busy taking action to reduce its environmental footprint over the past years. So partnering with Justdiggit, whose mission is to regreen Africa and cool down the planet, was an easy decision to take. Justdiggit works together with local farmers and communities in Africa to transform degraded landscapes into thriving domestic ecosystems.


HOW DOES JUSTDIGGIT DO THIS?

Justdiggit works with local communities and partners to jumpstart large scale landscape restoration projects, by retaining rainwater to bring back vegetation and prevent further erosion, flooding and land degradation.

In Kuku, Kenya Justdiggit is working together with the local Maasai community and their local partner, the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust (MWCT) on what is called a ‘Hydrologic Corridor’. This is a series of large scale landscape restoration projects. By using a diverse range of landscape restoration techniques, nature is being given a hand to bring back vegetation in these degraded areas. The presence of vegetation keeps the soil healthy and fertile, which allows plants and trees to keep on growing. When vegetation returns, it can help to restore an entire area!

The work begins by selecting a suitable site for restoration. This is determined by a set of criteria including; soil type, slope or gradient of the area, and the extent of the degradation. It is then critical to obtain the buy-in from the local community to ensure the success, proper maintenance and ultimately the sustainability of the project. After the local community roles are agreed, training starts and the selection of workers is made. Then the ‘EARTH SMILES’ digging begins, creating rainwater harvesting semi-circular bunds, as well as setting up grass seed banks.

             –  Bunds retaining the rainwater  –             –  Regenerated land after the captured rains –

OUR PLEDGE TO JUSTDIGGIT

In partnership with Justdiggit – ACS committed to regreen up 460,000 m2 of degraded land in Kuku, Kenya.

In September 2022, the digging of the rainwater harvesting bunds; ‘EARTH SMILES’ began. The yearly rain season kicks off a chain reaction through which the underlying seeds sprout and continuously improve the quality of the soil with minimal human intervention. Despite the poor rains experienced during the November to December 2022 rainy season, bund digging and grass seeding has been ongoing in anticipation for a better rainy season. Climate change still remains a major challenge, which stresses the significance of this very vital restoration program in areas like this.

Until now the Maasai community has dug 150,048 water bunds, and set up 5 grass seed banks, which are managed by five different women groups.

Justdiggit is empowering millions of subsistence farmers to restore their degraded lands, using proven Sustainable Land Management techniques and TOGETHER we can bring back nature.
Creating a benefit for people, the environment and – eventually – our climate!