The Bentley Environmental Foundation celebrated its first anniversary with the announcement of three new partnerships.

The latest group of organisations, to join the Foundation, namely Hubbub, Forum for the Future and Renewable World, takes the total number of partners to ten in just 12 months, further reflecting Bentley’s ongoing ambitions to help preserve and regenerate the planet for future generations.

UK-based charity Hubbub brings businesses, organisations, local authorities and community groups together to create environmental campaigns. Last year, the award-winning charity delivered 49 projects, encouraging over six million people to think differently about environmental issues.

With support from the Foundation, Hubbub plans to bring people closer to nature by connecting community-led green spaces across the UK, with work starting this summer.

Forum for the Future is a leading international non-profit that, for the last 28 years, has been working to accelerate the shift towards a just and regenerative future. Through a series of partnerships with governments, businesses and local groups, Forum has focused attention on how we produce, consume and think about our food and energy.

The Foundation will support a new phase of the project, developing and sharing revised guidance on how businesses can drive lasting change along with real-world examples of trailblazing businesses already putting theory into practice.

Renewable World enables people living in poverty to transform their lives by improving their access to clean energy, empowering them to develop sustainable and resilient livelihoods, and mitigating the impact of climate change.

The Foundation will be supporting The CLASS Project in western Nepal’s Banke National Park, which will pilot clean energy approaches to improve livelihoods, conservation, safety and sustainability.

Part of the luxury marque’s industry-leading Beyond100 strategy, the Bentley Environmental Foundation highlights the company’s ongoing commitment to supporting sustainability initiatives on a global scale. In its first 12 months, the Foundation’s existing seven partners have already achieved a number of key milestones.

Beyond the impact of philanthropy alone, the Bentley Environmental Foundation has enjoyed further achievements. Alumni of the Biomimicry Institute’s Ray of Hope Prize pitched to Bentley’s own design department, inspiring its internal team to consider the further integration and application of nature-inspired projects.

A ‘Let’s Talk Sustainability’ forum was created to discuss sustainability topics, hosted by Bentley’s expert partners for more than 4,000 colleagues in Crewe.

Meanwhile, volunteering opportunities for Bentley colleagues have been hosted throughout the year, with integrated content from Foundation partners also added to the company’s eAcademy curriculum.

Bentley also continues to inspire and educate early career colleagues by providing placements via the Foundation, who have recently become proud members of the Environmental Funders Network and Catalyst 2030.

Photo Credits: Bentley

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Bentley Motors announced two new supported charities in the luxury marque’s global sustainability initiative. Blue Marine Foundation and Everwave have joined the Bentley Environmental Foundation on World Water Day, the annual event run by the United Nations to highlight the importance and responsible use of water.

Bentley Environmental Foundation was launched in June last year as part of the company’s Beyond100 strategy. It has joined organisations working on innovative solutions to help regenerate the planet and the urgently needed drawdown of greenhouse gases.

The Foundation has been co-creating impactful environmental projects with leading NGOs and charities who are pressing for systematic change that promotes an equitable future for all, as well as driving sustainable luxury, focused on the improved sustainability of materials, crafts and manufacturing processes.

These latest charities, Blue Marine Foundation and Everwave, take the total number of NGOs and charities supported by the Foundation to seven, including four dedicated to water-based causes, as leading scientists emphasise the key role our waterways and oceans play in mitigating climate change.

everwave cleans up the environment: garbage boats are used to prevent waste from entering the oceans. Artificial intelligence assists in the clean-up missions to detect and analyse waste.

The collected material is then recycled through environmentally friendly processes and, in addition, the public is made aware of environmental issues. The green start-up Everwave is jointly supported by the Bentley Environmental Foundation, the Audi Environmental Foundation, and the Ferry Porsche Foundation.

The focus of the project is on the capital city of Bangkok, where almost 385 tons of plastic are washed into the sea every year. Under the motto ‘Building Bridges’, the partnership aims to make a global commitment to waste disposal.

Blue Marine Foundation is a charity dedicated to restoring the oceans to health by addressing the wide-scale destruction of life and habitats in the ocean. Through the creation of marine protected areas (MPAs), tackling overfishing, restoring vital habitats and developing models of sustainable fishing, their mission is to see at least 30 per cent of the world’s ocean under effective protection by 2030 and the sustainable management of the whole ocean.

The Bentley Environmental Foundation will be funding projects in the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Atlantic that establish and effectively manage MPAs globally to continuously protect extraordinary marine life and biodiversity in the oceans on which we all depend.

Existing water-based causes supported by the Bentley Environmental Foundation include Sustainable Surf, a California-based organisation that uses the power of surf to regenerate the health of our oceans.

The group’s SeaTrees programme is expanding a mangrove tree restoration scheme in Kenya, as well as seagrass and kelp planting projects in Portugal and Spain.  These initiatives have already created more than 1,000 local jobs, and planted over 200,000 mangrove trees, and restored 15,000 sqm of seagrass in Spain and Portugal.

The Rivers Trust is also a current Bentley Environmental Foundation partner. The UK-based collective of conservation experts works with farmers, government and businesses to provide advice and resources. It aims to create a wild, healthy and natural river system for all.

Currently, the Trust is busy expanding its core team to take on new environmental projects. Bentley has co-created an environmental impact project with Rivers Trust that focuses on Valley Brook River at “The Home of Bentley” in Crewe, aiming to also involve Bentley staff on the ground.

The other existing partners in the Foundation are:

• The Climate Group works internationally with leading businesses, states and regions to deliver local solutions towards a world of net zero greenhouse gas emissions and greener policies;
• Project Drawdown, aiming to optimise the effectiveness and efficiency of billions of pounds worth of environmental donations and investments; 
• The Biomimicry Institute’s ‘Ray of Hope Fellowship’, which supports changemakers and eco-entrepreneurs who are finding nature-inspired solutions to environmental challenges.

“Bentley’s ground-breaking Beyond100 strategy has always targeted leadership in sustainable luxury mobility. Launched less than a year ago, the Bentley Environmental Foundation is now a key pillar of that strategy, helping to support change-makers around the world and finding solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental issues,” said Christoph Hohmann, Head of Brand Communications and responsible for the Bentley Environmental Foundation.

“Bentley sees a future in which sustainability will be paramount and these exciting new partnerships will implement projects with positive, long-term impacts for the environment. Conscious of the key role that our waterways and oceans play in the mitigation of climate change, we are very excited to now have 4 water-based projects, each co-created with leading NGOs and charities.”

Clemens Feigl, CEO of Everwave, said, “We are very happy to have Bentley on board to support our mission. Until today, we have collected over 1.4 million tons of waste from our waters. Only together with our partners, we can create this visible impact and free the world’s rivers from waste.”

Dan Crockett, Ocean and Climate Director at Blue Marine Foundation, added, “A healthy ocean full of life could be a powerful solution to climate change. We are incredibly grateful to the Bentley Environmental Foundation for their support in creating effective marine protected areas in The Caribbean, the Mediterranean Sea and the South Atlantic. We look forward to driving significant conservation impact from this generous donation”.

Photo Credits: Bentley

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