Kensington and Chelsea swaps parking meters for trees to improve air quality

Kensington and Chelsea Council has announced they will replace parking meters with trees in a bid to improve air quality.

The council have teamed up with parking app PayByPhone who will donate one tree for every ten parking meters that exist in the London borough.

Cashless parking will have another benefit, according to the council, who currently travel 23,000 miles every year collecting cash from the 700 machines that are in operation.

Kensington and Chelsea Council is the first participant in PayByPhone’s new carbon footprint reduction initiative, which was created in collaboration with Carbon Footprint Ltd, to support local authorities across the UK to reduce pollution.

70 tonnes of carbon dioxide will be also be saved through the Portel-Pará REDD project, a Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) audited initative in the Amazon rainforest that combats deforestation.

PayByPhone’s UK CEO Jonny Combe & Cllr Jonny Thalassites of Kensington and Chelsea Council

Cllr Cem Kemahli, Lead Member for Environment, Kensington and Chelsea Council, said: ‘The shift to cashless parking and PayByPhone’s Meters for Trees initiative are huge steps forward in our quest to make our borough’s parking service carbon neutral.

‘Cashless parking is more convenient for drivers and eliminates the risk of theft from machines.’

Jonny Combe, PayByPhone’s UK CEO, said: ‘Kensington and Chelsea’s commitment to our Meters for Trees initiative is a fantastic example of how cashless parking can support forward-thinking councils on their journeys to improve the air quality in their boroughs.