Oakman plants one million trees from coffee sales
In collaboration with not-for-profit organisation Tree-Nation, the award-winning pub co last year pledged to plant a tree for every cup of coffee sold across the group’s pubs and hotels, planting more than one million to date by selling around 2,500 cups of coffee a day across the Oakman estate.
Furthermore, 80% of the trees have been planted as part of Madagascar's Eden project with the other 20% planted in Tanzania with the Usambara Biodiversity Conservation project, covering almost 450 hectares of reforested land and representing some 50,000 tonnes of recaptured Co2.
Profound effects
Oakman chair Peter Borg-Neal said: "Planting this young Oak, which might live for 1,000 years, is a simple commemoration of what small groups can do with little effort or personal impact, but which can have profound effects.
“For example, we were the first pub group to ban plastic straws, eventually leading to their national disappearance, [and] the first pub group to install electric charging points in our new pub car parks.
“We always seek ways to make a difference without losing sight of our commercial responsibilities. We couldn’t have achieved our first year’s target without the support of our guests.”
Since the first trees were planted in September 2021, the Oakman sites that have contributed the greatest number of trees by dint of daily coffee sales were the Beech House, Beaconsfield; the Royal Foresters, Ascot; and the Cherry Tree in Olney.
Incredible milestone
On Friday 28 October Borg-Neal, joined by team supervisor Marisa Blackman and Oakman’s Gardens and sustainability manager Philip Jones, celebrated the achievement by planting an oak tree in the company’s recently opened 1.2-acre Oakman Kitchen Garden at the Akeman Inn, Aylesbury.
Tree-nation founder and CEO Maxime Renaudin said: "A year ago, our sponsor, Oakman Group, committed to planting one tree with us for each coffee sold, one year later, they’ve reached the incredible milestone of one million trees.
“Congratulations to everyone at Oakman as well as all their customers who are changing the world, one coffee at a time."
