Micromobility startup Forest has given away 14 million free riding minutes and eliminated 235,000 car trips in London, according to its 2023 Sustainability Report released today.
The B-Corp certified company was born out of one simple mission – to reduce emissions. The findings of the report are broken down into three pillars which feed this mission: Planet, People and Community.
In London where Forest is based, 50% of air pollution is caused by road traffic, and transport makes up 25% of total emissions.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done to decarbonise public transport including overground, underground and bus services,” Forest Head of Sustainability Laura Elms told Zag Daily.
“That transition will take a lot of political will and investment. In the meantime, walking and cycling is the way Londoners can and are making incremental differences.”
Refurbishing spike
One key accomplishment comes from its Refurbishment Project, which saw the operator turn its attention to repairing bike parts instead of replacing them.
Forest’s repair rate for bike parts increased from 60% in 2022 to 71% in 2023, and now 80% of faulty components can be repaired by the in-house refurbishing team within 20 minutes.
“The Refurbishment Project is everything we love about sustainability – finding solutions within our own Forest workshop to reduce overreliance on international supply chains and reduce unnecessary emissions,” Laura said.
“That project is greatly satisfying because it’s something we can see play out end to end and has a corresponding positive financial benefit to the company. It’s also very tangible, which sometimes is lacking in the sustainability space, seeing the team fix and reuse parts is very real and very impressive.”
To take repairs even further, Forest has set the target to increase the rate to 73%. Other goals laid out in the report include increasing the number of free minutes to 16 million, purchasing 30% of e-bikes secondhand and reducing air freight emissions by 50%.
“Our main aim is to be authentic and transparent,” Laura said. “We talk about our sustainability credentials a lot and it’s very important to back that up with detail and clarity.
“As well as reassuring our riders, local authorities, communities we operate within and investors that we’re a responsible and considerate company, it’s also a good exercise for us internally to understand where we are succeeding and where we can do more.”
