27 July 2022
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Viessmann’s #ViMoveForClimate programme, which sees the company donate trees in return for participants’ activity, is to be made permanent via an activity tracking app that anyone anywhere in the world can download and use to improve their health and wellbeing while making a contribution to environmental conservation.
Launched in 2020 as an antidote to global lockdowns, ViMove started as a 14-day campaign for Viessmann employees. If they ran or walked a kilometre or cycled three kilometres, Viessmann would donate a tree. The first campaign achieved 132,853 kilometres’ activity resulting in more than 64,000 new trees.
Such has been the success of ViMove, the programme has been re-run twice, evolving to include participants outside the company, and with more and more activities added. In 2021, the milestone of one million trees was reached, equating to 10,000 tons of CO₂ captured per year. To date, Viessmann has planted more than 83,0000 seedlings around the world, including in Cambodia, Peru and in Talla & Gameshope in the UK.
Viessmann has now made ViMove permanent, as opposed to being campaign-based over limited time periods. Open to as many people as possible, a ViMove activity tracking app can be downloaded in the App Store or Google Play Store. Registration is required via the website.
The app allows individuals to track their own contributions and to see how they fare in a global leader board. From July, a tree will be planted for every 30 km of cycling or 10 km of walking or running, and for every 90 minutes of swimming, climbing, football or gym workouts.
“It has been truly heart-warming to see the #ViMoveForClimate initiative develop in such a short space of time,” says Viessmann UK managing director, Graham Russell. “It has been road-tested by Viessmann family members and trade partners, as well as their friends and family. The feedback has been fantastic and we’re now in a position to invite the world to join a permanent ViMove community.”
Viessmann chose to focus on tree planting for its environmental initiative because deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, after fossil fuel combustion. When they are cut down, vital means of trapping CO₂ and preventing it from entering the atmosphere disappear.
The reach and evolution of the campaign was recognised at the recent National ACR & Heat Pump Awards, with ViMove winning Company Environmental Initiative of the Year.
The ViMove app can be accessed via the App Store and Google Play.
