In this past week, the Mahindra South Africa team shipped a very special order to every Mahindra dealer in South Africa.

The special shipment did not contain parts, equipment or even a new car. It was trucks full of spekboom plants! Each of the thousands of spekboom plants that we shipped, were planted in a special organic bamboo container – one for each Mahindra sold in 2023.

Once delivered, each dealer will plant some of the spekboom at the dealership and share many with their customers and partners.

The idea for the special shipment came during a discussion between Mahindra South Africa and the Mahindra & Mahindra Group on how to best commemorate the International Reducing CO2Emissions Day and make a meaningful gesture to Mahindra dealers and customers on the importance of environmental protection.

International Reducing CO2Emissions Day will be held on 28 January 2024. The day was originally started several years ago to drive awareness of the challenges of global warming and the role that carbon dioxide emissions play in this unwanted process.

The day forms part of the United Nations’ 203 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Goal number 13 of the 17 SDGs refer specifically to Climate Action, and it requires global signatories and supporters, such as Mahindra, to improve education, awareness-raising and climate-change mitigation wherever possible.

For Mahindra South Africa, the idea of sending spekboom plants to dealers and customers make perfect sense.

The spekboom, also known by its scientific name Portulacaria Afra and as the elephant bush, is an indigenous plant that – according to the Spekboom Foundation – is ten times more effective absorbing CO2per hectare than a rainforest.

The plant is known to enrich the soil in which it is planted, is edible and has medicinal values and requires virtually no maintenance to grow and flourish.

Mahindra has shared these features and benefits of the spekboom with dealers, who in turn will do the same with their customers. In doing so, the message to reduce our carbon emissions is shared in a positive manner and Mahindra gets to distribute several (literal) truckloads of this indigenous plant. For more information on Mahindra South Africa’s corporate social responsibility activities, visit mahindra.co.za. More information on the International Reducing CO2Emissions Day can be found by following the global hashtag #InternationalReducingCO2EmissionsDay.