COMA Plants 400 Trees to Offset CO2 Emissions

The Official College of Physicians of Alicante has taken a step forward in its commitment to combating Climate Change and its health impacts by creating the "COMA Forest." Last Friday, November 22, the planting of 400 trees of various native species: pines, cornicabras, and holm oaks, began on a 1-hectare plot provided by the Biar Town Council. The initiative was carried out in collaboration with Folia Project and the Biar Town Council.

The College aims to offset its CO2 emissions with this "COMA Forest," after calculating its Carbon Footprint. The compensation projection has been estimated at 100 tonnes of CO2.

"An unforgettable and very significant day" for the College of Physicians of Alicante, as highlighted by its president, Dr. Hermann Schwarz, "COMA culminates an intense effort of several years, during which we have installed solar panels at the college headquarters, switched to 100% green energy supply; and now finally, we have reached the compensation phase through the planting of these 400 trees. This is just the beginning, we will continue to offset the emissions we produce in the future. In 2024, we have managed to reduce them to 10.8 tonnes of CO2 when in 2019 they were 97.7 tonnes."

The mayor of Biar, Mª Magdalena Martínez, led the municipal delegation that accompanied the president of the College of Physicians of Alicante to the "COMA Forest" grounds. There, the municipal leader explained what it means for the municipality to host this sustainable initiative: "The land where the trees have been planted is municipal, a former sealed landfill that was closed many years ago. With this forest, we manage to recover the area because the space is next to other similar lands that we have previously reforested, and where you can see how the trees are growing. The environmental circle is closed, we recover the natural use of a degraded space thanks to the College of Physicians."

The technical director of Folia Project, Luis Cardalliaguet, stated that "this is the best time of year to plant. Above all, we have opted for the Aleppo pine, as it is one of the Mediterranean species most resistant to the drought conditions we have in the province of Alicante, and it will also adapt better to a degraded terrain like this; but we are also planting holm oaks and cornicabras. All the trees have tube protectors to shield them from rabbits," explained Luis Cardalliaguet.