1% for the Rainforest

You may remember that I was the first UK business to sign up as a member of 1% For The Planet, the rapidly expanding association of businesses donating at least 1% of their income (not profits, income) to environmental causes.

Well, the latest beneficiary of my green largesse is Rainforest Concern: a charity devoted to an issue that seems, bizarrely, to be rather out of the limelight these days: the destruction of the rainforests.

There's plenty of debate about aviation and climate change - no bad thing in itself - but when did you last hear much about the rainforests? And yet, as The Independent reported recently, 24 hours of deforestation releases as much CO2 as eight million people flying from London to New York. So one wonders if the focus is quite in the right place.

The recent Stern report said that up to 25% of annual greenhouse gas emissions comes from deforestation and the burning of tropical rainforests. And since 1990, 13 million hectares of forest have been destroyed every year. Yes, that's every year. One hectare = 10,000 square metres, which means we've lost about 208,000,000 square metres since 1990. Great.

These are extraordinary numbers. And of course, my little 1% looks a bit puny in comparison. But each time I go to the 1%FTP website there are more members on the list: it's a good way to feel part of something important and inspiring. So why not sign up?