As a brand specialising in carbon wheelsets Parcours Velo is under no illusions as to its products' cost to the environment. Already committed to green transportation, it is now helping to offset the energy-intensive process of producing and shipping carbon wheels through its new tree-planting initiative.
Partnering with Ecologi, an environmental organisation that helps deliver carbon offsetting projects, Parcours Velo is planting a tree for every watt saved through the purchase of its wheelsets. So if you buy a pair of its Strade wheels that deliver a 17 watt saving, that’s 17 trees planted.
Parcours hopes to plant tens of thousands of trees via the campaign. On launch it planted 1000 trees in the ‘Parcours Forest’ as well as committing to doubling the number of trees planted this December.
By planting trees across a number of countries, including Peru and Madagascar, Parcours will not only be helping to reduce carbon pollution but also create employment and restore wildlife habitats in areas that have suffered from deforestation.
(Image credit: Ecologi)
“I’m thrilled to have signed up to work with Ecologi, especially at this time of year when waste is at an all-time high,” says Dov Tate, founder of Parcours Velo. “I had the idea to offer to “plant a tree for every watt saved” to help offset some of our carbon footprint and go one step further in our mission to become more sustainable as a company.”
To aid its mission of improving sustainability within the cycling industry, Parcours has already begun to lessen the impact of its supply chain through the use of compostable and biodegradable bags as well as 100% recyclable cardboard boxes, held together using paper-based tape that’s also fully recyclable. ‘Trees for Watts’ deepens the brand’s commitment to improving sustainability as well as helping it move towards its goal of becoming ‘climate positive’ - a step further than ‘carbon neutral’.
To calculate the watts saved when using its wheelsets, Parcours have compared test results versus a standard box rim wheel. For its rim brake models, this is a Shimano RS11 24mm clincher and for its disc brake wheelsets it uses a Fulcrum Racing 5 clincher as a baseline. During testing both rim and disc brake wheels were fitted with Continental GP5000TL 25mm or 28mm tyres depending on the model.
On wheelsets where the aero saving is less obvious or when aerodynamic testing hasn’t been done, most notably on its gravel wheelsets, Parcours have committed to plant 10 trees for every set sold.
Luke Friend has worked as a writer, editor and copywriter for twenty five years. Across books, magazines and websites, he's covered a broad range of topics for a range of clients including Major League Baseball, the National Trust and the NHS. He has an MA in Professional Writing from Falmouth University and is a qualified bicycle mechanic. He has been a cycling enthusiast from an early age, partly due to watching the Tour de France on TV. He's a keen follower of bike racing to this day as well as a regular road and gravel rider.
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