The More Forest Tax initiative – growth with added value.
Our enthusiasm for the mate culture
Besides our enthusiasm for mate culture and the effects of fresh mate infusions, there was another crucial factor that motivated us to offer fair trade organic mate tea in Europe: protecting and regenerating the Atlantic rainforest through the distribution of mate . Using the forest as a forest garden, as close to nature as possible and in consultation with all stakeholders.
After several years of intensive work, we have gained further insights and found even better ways to use the forest more sustainably, and since this year we have been collaborating with an initiative in Uruguay. But all of this takes so much time, and we no longer have that.
Rainforest in distress
During our travels through the areas of the "former" Atlantic rainforest, of which only about 7-10% remains as a patchwork, we gained an impression of what the Amazon rainforest could look like in just a few years if we as a global community don't act immediately. There are some organizations and sustainable companies working to protect and restore forests, but with all due respect, it's far too little.
We need governmental solutions, governments that recognize the seriousness of the situation, that understand it's far more cost-effective to protect forests now than to replant them all in a few years. Rainforests have developed over millennia, serving as habitats and food sources for people and animals, as vast carbon sinks, and regulating the Earth's water cycle and temperature. We cannot simply restore all of this. Since 1990, we have lost an area of rainforest the size of Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, the UK, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands combined, and the loss continues every day.
When the new economic stimulus package was passed at the beginning of July, we were extremely disappointed by the short-sightedness of these measures and by the shift in our political climate. Climate protection only plays a role in it as long as it promotes direct economic growth using familiar patterns. The €20 billion reduction in VAT, in particular, was a puzzle for us, one that we had to solve from a business perspective.
We already have fair prices; nobody will buy an extra pack of mate tea just because it's a few cents cheaper, but many billions of cents together can create real added value for everyone, namely more forest and less climate change .
Our answer is MoreForestTax . Let's invest the VAT reduction in climate protection, now and all of us together.
Together for the More Forest Tax
We are keeping all prices the same and as fair as they are, and we are donating the entire VAT reduction amount to the MehrWaldSteuer (More Forest Tax) initiative. This will protect forests and help reforest the world. Furthermore, the initiative aims to find a political solution for protecting the world's forests. Whether this will ultimately be an actual "More Forest Tax ," a few percentage points of GDP, or something else entirely, needs to be clarified with all stakeholders. Until then, we urge all businesses and individuals to support the initiative, contribute to its development, shape its future, and work together to make it a success.
Because there are already millions of people suffering from climate change , millions of people fleeing and being displaced from the consequences.
We urge all individuals and businesses to support the More Forest Tax ; it should continue to exist even after December 31, 2020. As a tax that we all gladly pay.
