Geitjesbos - Our story
2CV & CO
Since 2CV&CO was founded in 2006, thousands of people have enjoyed plenty of 2CV fun. Our customers savour the nostalgia of puttering along in a “little goat” through the beautiful landscape of the Flemish Ardennes. Over the past 16 years, and especially in recent years, awareness of climate change has grown, and we do not want to turn a blind eye to it either…
Our little Citroëns are light, have a small engine, low fuel consumption and therefore low CO2 emissions, comparable to a modern car. Still, some emissions of course remain, and we wanted to draw up our own climate plan…
In the long term we plan to convert our 2CVs to electric versions. In France an electric conversion kit has been designed specially for the deux chevaux, with European approval. Unfortunately this conversion is not yet recognised in Belgium. The only way to register one here is to import an electric version from abroad. Work is under way on a type approval to give the 2CV a new electric life in Belgium too. Combined with the solar panels on the roof of our shed, we could even charge our 2CVs with our own green electricity…
Reducing CO2 is of course the best solution, but because this conversion will take a lot of time and money, we looked for a short-term alternative…
That is how we arrived at CO2 offsetting and the “Geitjesbos”, the little goats' wood! We went looking for a plot of land we could turn into woodland. But that too proved a difficult story in the Flemish Ardennes, given the shortage of this type of land… At the end of 2021 we bought 1.5 ha of (to-be-planted) woodland in Zwalm. Half of it was planted with poplars almost 5 years ago; the other half will be planted with native trees on 18 December. By also converting the poplar section into a wood of native species, we ensure more biodiversity and sustainability. In this way we want to offset the CO2 our friendly little 2CVs emit straight away, with our own trees…
In addition, we want to open the wood up in time to our customers, but also to every resident of Zwalm and every walker. We will provide a few footpaths through the wood, some benches and a picnic table. A great story for nature and people alike!
To be continued…
