IRVING, Texas -- 7-Eleven Inc. has planted a veritable forest through its reduced-emissions program for fuel.
In September 2017, 7-Eleven began piloting Renew, a reduced-emissions gasoline program, in partnership with GreenPrint. For each gallon of gasoline purchased by a customer of a participating 7-Eleven convenience store, GreenPrint determines the equivalent tailpipe emissions and invests in certified carbon-reduction projects to offset up to 30% of them. These programs include reforestation, green-scaping, wildlife-protection and renewable energy projects.
In August 2018, 7-Eleven ramped up the Renew program to hundreds of new sites and markets. Today, it includes 934 stores in Northern California; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; Milwaukee and Madison, Wis.; and Vancouver, B.C.
In the year since it launched, 7-Eleven’s Renew program has planted 100,000 trees and offset 32,448 metric tons of carbon emissions, the chain reported. This represents powering 1.6 million homes for a day with no environmental effect.
Through the Renew program, 7-Eleven partners with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant trees where they can have the greatest impact—for example, in national parks that are recovering from forest fires. The program also funds more than a dozen sustainability projects.
“We’ve expanded our sustainability footprint as it is important to our communities, customers and organization,” said Chris Tanco, executive vice president and COO of 7-Eleven. “In 2019, we look forward to continuing to make a positive impact on the local communities in which we operate by further growing the Renew program.”
Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven operates, franchises or licenses more than 66,000 c-stores in 17 countries, including approximately 9,100 in the United States. 7-Eleven is No. 1 CSP’s 2018 Top 202 ranking of c-store chains by number of company-owned retail outlets.
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