Hanover, 07/09/2024 - The lavera Forest Project and its associated Europe-wide commitment have been internationally recognized for the first time. lavera wins the Life Terra Award 2024 in the category "Most impactful organisation" for its planting projects with young people in France and Italy as well as its continuous efforts for more trees across Europe.

In 2021, company founder Thomas Haase initiated the lavera Forest Project. For 35 years, the company has worked with nature and is committed to preserving it, because "nature is the source of all our actions and our habitat as well as the foundation for our cosmetics." This guiding principle is firmly anchored in lavera's sustainability strategy and shapes all operational processes.

The lavera Forest Project is funded through the sales of selected lavera products – as 10 cents per product are automatically allocated to the lavera Forest Project budget. This enables lavera to implement climate protection projects across Europe, including reforestation, nature conservation, environmental education, and research.

lavera has already been able to provide over 45,000 trees across Europe and reforest in a climate-friendly way in the Hanover region, Thuringia, as well as in France and Italy. In doing so, lavera works with experts like Sven Kallen from Life Terra, who, with as much passion as the lavera team, are committed to contributing to greater sustainability and biodiversity.

For its commitment and cooperation with LifeTerra in Italy, lavera was awarded the LifeTerra Award 2024. Sven Kallen, LifeTerra founder: “lavera provides fantastic support for the restoration of nature. Congratulations and many thanks for the continuous effort to plant more trees across Europe and involve the next generations to learn about and take action against climate change.” In France, lavera planted trees in 2023 and again this year in the park of Château de Chambord together with scouts and students. These trees thrive on the poor sandy soil with little water and must withstand summer temperatures of up to 40 degrees.

In 2024, lavera donated around 700 trees and special shrub species for planting campaigns in April and May in the heart of Lombardy, the industrial center of Italy, to strengthen the unique nature of the region and promote its ecological balance.

The plantings took place in two significant areas: in the historic park of Villa Annoni near Milan and at the Cavalleri winery in Franciacorta.

You can find a visual overview of the planting areas here.

Sabine Kästner, Sustainability Officer at lavera, emphasizes the importance of these actions: “We are pleased about the intensive cooperation with LifeTerra and thank Sven Kallen and his team. And of course, we are very proud of the LifeTerra Award and our first international recognition. Planting insect-friendly shrub species for more biodiversity is just as important to us as reforestation with trees, which are vital for the air quality and water balance of a region. They serve as natural carbon dioxide sinks, which is especially important in the densely populated valley regions of Lombardy or in the historically valuable park of Château de Chambord in France. With our lavera forest project, we contribute to actively combating the challenges of climate change such as water scarcity and soil dryness. lavera’s forest protection project initiative not only supports the important goal of a region to make forests more climate-resilient and to convert agricultural or unused land into forest and biodiversity-friendly areas.

Moreover, lavera makes actions like these possible in cooperation with foundations like Life Terra for clubs or individuals who lack the resources for a climate-resilient transformation of natural areas.