Swiss Post to aid New Caledonia project
Swiss Post is to invest CHF 350,000 ($362,800) into a clean wind power project in New Caledonia, an island located in the Pacific Ocean. The finance was raised through the operator’s “pro clima” surcharge programme.
Customers have the option to send letters, parcels and goods on a carbon-neutral basis by paying the surcharge. In 2010, 70m items were shipped under the “pro clima” initiative, raising CHF 350,000 ($362,800).
The full proceeds will now be invested in the clean wind power project after it topped an online poll voted on by Swiss Post customers.
The project in New Caledonia could not be implemented without this additional financing, and its completion will lead to a reduction of 27,000 tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere. This corresponds to the annual CO2 emissions of a community with around 4,500 residents.
The wind power facility is located the main island of New Caledonia. Through the use of six wind farms, coal will no longer be needed as a source of energy. This will reduce emissions of gases which are harmful to the environment, improve the local air quality and make New Caledonia less dependent on imports of fossil fuels.
Furthermore, the project is also important for the local population, as it provides 50 jobs and thus lessens the pressure on people to migrate.
The specially constructed wind turbines can also survive tropical hurricanes, as they can be dismantled in the event of a typhoon warning.
It was thanks to this technology that the wind farms were able to survive the recent typhoon “Yasi” without sustaining damage.
A Swiss Post spokesman said: “Swiss Post pursues a consistent climate protection strategy: We are reducing our energy consumption as much as possible and replacing energy from non-renewable sources with renewable energies.”
The New Caledonia project received 46% of the vote in an online poll. The other choices were a biomass power plant in India and a waste disposal gas power plant in Turkey.
