Photo copyright : African Forest Forum

Safaricom has partnered with Kenya Forest Service to plant 5 million trees in the next five years to create sustainable forest cover across the country.

Safaricom Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Steve Chege says the trees will be planted in different places as it hopes to achieve the 10 percent forest cover by 2022.

“We have committed to work on this project, but we will plant indigenous trees in some of the gazette forests in Kenya,” said Chege. He added that the telco will ensure constant communication with the community to ensure the sustainability projects are successful.

“Safaricom has made a bold commitment to become a net-zero carbon-emitting company by 2050 and even engage with the public as we embark on this project,” he adds. He was speaking during the launch of the launch of the Sustainable Business Report 2019.

According to the report, the company recorded a nine per cent increase in the number of jobs sustained in the last financial year, both directly and indirectly, to 979,000. These jobs were supported by an 11 per cent increase in the telco’s contribution to the economy, which rose to Sh601 billion, which is 9.6 times the profit earned in FY2018-2019.

This information is shared by AFF and extracted from https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/2019/08/safaricom-commits-to-plant-5-million-trees-in-5-years/.