Australian basketball legend, Andrew Gaze, is also lending his support to this initiative in his role as an Ambassador for the Audi brand. Working with Audi dealerships Penfold Motors in Burwood and Audi Centre Doncaster, Gaze has expressed his support for the Greenfleet/Penfold programme that promotes ‘carbon-neutral’ motoring in Melbourne, seeing the concept as a real win for the environment.

“I think all Australians are aware of the need to protect our environment, especially for future generations. By taking some relatively simple steps such as recycling household waste, conserving water or neutralising the carbon emissions that our cars generate, we are making a conscious effort to reduce the impact of our greenhouse emissions and care for the environment,” Gaze said.

Penfold Motors is the first motor vehicle dealer to sign up with Greenfleet. This agreement will see more than 12,000 native trees planted each year to neutralise the greenhouse emissions from the vehicles they sell.

“With transport being Australia’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions, this initiative by Penfold is to be applauded,” says Greenfleet CEO Henry O’Clery. “We are also particularly pleased with this initiative due to the recent release of Audi’s new-generation turbo diesel (TDI) A3 that achieves a combined-cycle fuel efficiency of 5.9 litres per 100km, and will travel around 1000km on a single tank of fuel. This illustrates that you can purchase a performance premium brand vehicle while still limiting your greenhouse gas emissions,” he added.

For every car sold, Penfold will contribute $40 to Greenfleet’s carbon-offset programme. The complementary subscription will see 17 native trees planted by Greenfleet on behalf of the new Audi owner, enough to absorb the greenhouse emissions that their car produces in one year (based on 4.3 tonnes of CO2 for the average car).

“Australians are fast becoming aware of the threats that our environment faces,” says Penfold Audi Director, Greg Johnstone. “Being the first motor vehicle dealer to take this initiative, we hope that this will be a catalyst, and become widely adopted in the industry. If this eventuated it would certainly have an enormous impact, not only on carbon offset but also land degradation and wildlife habitat.”

Penfold’s trees will be planted in Victoria as part of Greenfleet’s ‘Murray Darling Rescue’ project, an ongoing partnership with Scouts Australia, that aims to help re-vegetate Australia’s largest river system, to restore much needed habitat and help in the reduction of widespread salinity.