Lyft is a kinder, gentler ride-hailing company with a reputation for being more environmentally aware.
That reputation is about to get a big boost, as the company has just announced a plan to purchase enough carbon credits to make all its global operations carbon neutral.
In the future all vehicles will operate with clean energy. But climate change is not waiting. It’s happening now, and it presents a clear and immediate threat to our world and those who live in it. Action cannot wait.
Today itself, Lyft announced that any Lyft ride from now on will be carbon neutral. Starting today, your decision to ride with Lyft will support the fight against climate change.
The purchase of carbon credits will cost the company several million dollars a year. Those credits are expected to offset more than a million tons of carbon emissions each year. That’s equivalent to planting tens of millions of trees or taking hundreds of thousands of cars off the road.
Lyft will also fund “emission mitigation efforts, including the reduction of emissions in the automotive manufacturing process, forestry projects, and the capture of emissions from landfills.” It has hired environmental monitoring firm 3Degrees to verify that those initiatives go to promote new carbon reduction programs, things that would not have happened if not for Lyft’s investment.