Beirut: Rasamny-Younis Motor Company S.A.L. (RYMCO), exclusive dealer of Nissan Motors (Nissan, Infiniti), GM vehicles (GMC), Renault trucks, Nissan Diesel (UD), FAW trucks, and Kawasaki in Lebanon, has taken pioneering steps in its quest to emerge as one of the country's most environmentally-friendly automotive dealers, by signing an agreement with UK-based EcoSecurities to audit and offset the Company's direct and indirect emissions of greenhouse gases.
RYMCO is the first automotive dealer in Lebanon to have signed on with EcoSecurities to assess, measure, and offset the Company's carbon footprint. By becoming carbon neutral, RYMCO takes a giant step towards achieving its environmental commitment.
"Being part of the automobile industry mandates that we take a responsible role in devising strategies to reduce CO2 emissions through increased energy and fuel efficiency to help address climate change, one of the highest priority environmental issues", said RYMCO's Marketing Manager, Charbel Abi Ghanem.
Commending RYMCO's pioneering approach, Mr. Souheil H. Abboud, EcoSecurities' Middle East Regional Director, stated that "RYMCO's decision to go carbon neutral not only stands to expand on their environmental commitments, but will also result in differentiating them from their peers. We are proud to have worked with RYMCO due to their seriousness in making a change from an environmental, social and sustainability perspective".
Carbon neutrality involves calculating a company's greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint, measured in tonnes of CO2, and then offsetting it through the purchase of carbon credits. These credits are usually purchased in the form of Voluntary Emission Reductions (VERs), where the money goes towards funding schemes that are verified by UN accredited bodies to reduce CO2 emissions, encourage new eco-friendly technologies, and contribute to the economic stability of small communities in developing countries.
EcoSecurities is one of the world's leading companies in the business of originating, developing and trading carbon credits, and is a key player in guiding greenhouse gas emission reduction projects through the Kyoto Protocol.
EcoSecurities measured RYMCO's carbon footprint and assessed the company's GHG emissions that resulted from a range of business activities including RYMCO's internal energy consumption, business related air travel, and commuting. EcoSecurities then developed and refined the Company's strategies for pursuing carbon neutrality, by identifying cost-effective mitigation strategies and sourcing verified offsets for RYMCO to purchase. EcoSecurities' carbon footprint assessment allows RYMCO to identify which activities and emission sources are their main contributors to their overall footprint, allowing RYMCO to address these and define measures to reduce the emissions internally.
"Though our contribution is considered minute in comparison to the issue of climate change, we are confident that if more companies realize the impact simple measures such as these have on reducing environmental harm, perhaps more of them will become carbon neutral," noted Abi Ghanem. "Our role at this stage is to demonstrate leadership on an issue of growing policy and economic significance, and to encourage others to follow suit", he added.
-Ends-
About RYMCO:
Rasamny-Younis Motor Company S.A.L. (RYMCO) is a joint stock company that was established in 1957 in Lebanon. RYMCO is one of the leading vehicle retail dealerships in Lebanon where it holds majority market share in the new vehicle retail industry, and commands a considerable portion of the used vehicle market. RYMCO operates a chain of independent showrooms and stores, a bonded warehouse as well as state-of-the-art servicing and maintenance facilities. The company has an automotive dealership arrangement with auto manufacturers in the US, Japan, Europe and China that include the likes of automotive giants Nissan Motors (Nissan, Infiniti), GM vehicles (GMC), Renault trucks, Nissan Diesel (UD) and FAW trucks. RYMCO marine is another unit within the RYMCO operations specialized in the sales and servicing of boats under the brand name of Gulf Craft.
About EcoSecurities:
EcoSecurities has spent the last 11 years focusing on climate change mitigation activities and is now one of the world's leading organizations in the business of sourcing, developing and trading emission reductions. EcoSecurities' emission reduction portfolio is one of the largest in the industry covering a wide range of emission reduction standards (Gold Standard, CDM, VCS etc), technology types and geographical locations. In addition, EcoSecurities provides clients with carbon management services, helping them to understand and deal with an increasingly carbon constrained world.
EcoSecurities has unrivalled climate change experience and has been recognized for a number of industry milestones including:
- The first project developer to become a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
- Development of the first CDM project registered under the Kyoto protocol, NovaGerar Landfill Project in Brazil in 2004.
- Structuring of the CDM component of the first project to receive CERs in the world, La Esperanza hydro project in Honduras in 2005.
- Received Environmental Finance' award for 'Best CDM/JI Project Developer 2008' for the second year in a row alongside the award for 'Best Voluntary Market Project Developer'.
- In 2007 the Group was ranked number 22 in CNBC European Business Magazine's 'Top 100 Low Carbon Pioneers'.
- Recognised by Environmental Data Services as one of the top 30 international carbon offset providers.
EcoSecurities Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM (ticker ECO). Additional information is available at www.EcoSecurities.com.
For further information, please log on to www.rymco.com or contact:
Rymco
Charbel Abi Ghanem,
Marketing Manager
Tel: +961 1 273333
Fax: +961 1 274311
Email: charbel.abighanem@rymco.com.lb
Memac Ogilvy PR
Blanche Baz
Senior Account Executive
Tel: +961 1 486 066
Fax: +961 1 486 064
Email: blanche.baz@ogilvy.com
© Press Release 2009
