Jaguar Land Rover, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of premium luxury vehicles, has launched a new project in Africa as part of its ambitious Global CSR Programme.
Jaguar Land Rover’s ambition is to achieve long-term responsible business growth by placing sustainability at the heart of its business strategy by reducing the environmental impact of its vehicles and operations and making a positive impact on society, all through ‘Environmental Innovation’. The company recently received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development for reducing the environmental impact of its vehicles and operations.
Jaguar Land Rover’s Global CSR Programme was launched in 2013 as part of its ‘Environmental Innovation’ strategy. The programme invests in education, technology, health, wellbeing and environmental projects which will positively impact 12 million people’s lives by 2020. The programme builds on the success of its UK education and sponsorship initiatives and will make a positive impact on communities in some of the 170 global countries it operates in.
Working with expert partners ClimateCare and Vestergaard, Jaguar Land Rover is investing in a new smart water filtration technology project that will provide over 300,000 pupils in 375 schools across Bungoma County with safe water.
The project will run for the next five years, helping improve students’ health, education and employment prospects. Teams of LifeStraw staff will visit the schools each term to see that they are used correctly and to carry out further education, as part of a robust monitoring process.
During the launch week, a team of seven Jaguar Land Rover employees from the UK and South Africa participated in the distribution as part of the company’s employee volunteering programme, visiting schools across the region to gain a deep insight into the LifeStraw safe water for schools programme.
Nigel Clarke, Operations Director of Jaguar Land Rover Sub-Saharan Africa said, “As a responsible business which is pioneering new technologies and innovations to reduce the impact of our vehicles, it makes sense for us to invest in new technologies which are tackling other sustainability issues around the world. These ambitions are embedded into the core of our business. That’s why we have set ourselves an ambitious target to create opportunities for 12 million people globally by 2020. Through our support, we hope to inspire and create opportunities for our future consumers and employees.
Africa is a key growth market for us. By supporting the provision of appropriate and effective water purifier technology we are creating opportunities for over 300,000 school-children in western Kenya – giving them the opportunity for a better education and greater opportunity to learn and excel. By 2020, we will create opportunities for three million people in Africa, which will reaffirm our commitment to grow our global business sustainably and responsibly.’
ClimateCare Director Tom Morton added, “At ClimateCare, our focus is on creating smart, integrated and cost effective programmes for our partners, using their investments to deliver maximum positive impact for people and the environment. This project to provide safe water to schools in Bungoma is a great example. Not only does it create an immediate, positive change, it will also leave a lasting legacy – supporting a better education for a whole generation of school children.”
Stephen Buchunju, Director of Visionary Academy in Bungoma Central, Kenya, who is also a primary school teacher, commented, “We are delighted to welcome Jaguar Land Rover, ClimateCare and Vestergaard staff to the school for the launch of this new project. Our children get illnesses such as typhoid and diarrhoea from dirty water which affects their education. The new LifeStraw Community filters will ensure we have a safe water supply which will improve their health and education prospects of our students and give them the best start to life.”
Benjamin Masinde, aded 11, is in class 5 at Visionary Academy. Benjamin said, “I caught typhoid from dirty water at school last term and went to hospital. I was off school for a week which was bad as i don’t want to miss any school so I can get good exam results and become an engineer. The new LifeStraw Community filters will make our water safe so we can all be healthy and never miss school.”
For further information and high resolution images contact:
Kate Birkenhead
CSR PR and Communications, Jaguar Land Rover
M: 07780 494 352
E: kbirkenh@jaguarlandrover.com
Rhiannon Szmigielski, ClimateCare
T: +44 (0)1865 591008
E: rhiannon.szmigielski@climatecare.org
Jaguar Land Rover
- Over the past five years, Jaguar Land Rover has doubled sales and employment, more than tripled turnover, and invested some £11 billion in new product creation and capital expenditure.
- We are investing in new products, facilities, research and development, and will invest £5bn this year alone on R&D. This investment supports technology innovation and our CO2 reduction strategy.
- Jaguar Land Rover has made significant progress in building its international manufacturing presence over the last year. It opened a new joint venture in China and commenced construction of its local manufacturing plant in Brazil at the end of 2014. The creation of new international plants allows Jaguar Land Rover to increase its presence in regions that have been identified as having growth potential, protect against currency fluctuations and achieve a more efficient, globally competitive business.
- By 2020, we will achieve the following ‘Environmental Innovation’ key objectives:
- reduce water use by 30% per vehicle produced
- achieve carbon neutral manufacturing operations through energy saving projects, renewable energy & carbon offsetting
- send zero waste to landfill across our sites by treating waste as a resource
- maintain operating CO2 emissions at 30% lower than vs. 2007 baseline and emissions, despite significant global growth in vehicle volumes.
- be amongst sector leaders for tailpipe CO2 emissions, fuel economy and cost of ownership
- create opportunities for 12 million people through our Global CSR Programme
ClimateCare
- Jaguar Land Rover has worked with climate and sustainable development experts ClimateCare since 2009.
- ClimateCare is a Certified B Corporation based in the UK and Kenya. It works with governments and businesses to deliver world leading sustainability programmes and won a Queen’s Award its outstanding contribution to tackling climate change and alleviating poverty.
- ClimateCare created and deliver an integrated Climate+Care programme for Jaguar Land Rover, using smart technology to protect the environment and create new opportunities for people around the world
- The Climate+Care programme includes a number of projects which deliver against Jaguar Land Rovers CSR objectives. This LifeStraw Water for Schools initiative is one of those projects.
- Its Climate+Care programme will help Jaguar Land Rover reduce enough carbon to offset all its manufacturing assembly emissions to 2020 and create new opportunities for 6 million people around the world.
- ClimateCare’s focus on robust measurement of climate and development outcomes helps ensure that Jaguar Land Rover’s budget is used to deliver the maximum positive outcomes on the ground for people and the environment.
- Find out more at www.climatecare.org, or follow @ClimateCare.
LifeStraw® Technology
- The LifeStraw Community water purifier is an award-winning technology, subject to rigorous scrutiny and checks to ensure its effectiveness.
- It is one of very few technologies that is able to address bacteria, protozoa and viruses and achieve the category of highlight protective under WHO standards.
- LifeStraw Community uses hollow fibre membrane technology to purify water down to 0.02 microns. This means virtually all bacteria, protozoa and viruses from surface water are trapped in the purifier and only safe water is able to pass through.
Publish your content with EB Publishing
It's about who you reach. Get your news, events, jobs and thought leadership seen by those who matter to you.
