We Make History: War-torn Lebanon Gets Solar Farms

Sustainability and social responsibility are deeply rooted in Collectia’s DNA. Being headquartered in one of the world’s greenest countries, we feel obligated to take the lead in reducing emissions beyond our borders. That’s why we partnered with Xplora and United Cities, launching a worldwide project in early 2022 to turn physical activity into humanitarian work.

The first step on the way has been to help the war-affected Lebanese in Bchaaleh with the life-saving project “Net Zero in 12 months”. The Net Zero project is about creating a carbon-neutral Bchaaleh in 12 months, using donations in the form of steps. All steps donated are converted into real funds, which go directly to solar farms in the city.

Why Lebanon?

Lebanon has a weakened national economy and suffers from a massive energy shortage, meaning they only have access to 2 hours of electricity daily.

In addition to having insufficient access to electricity, Lebanese use polluting diesel generators, which are an unsustainable solution for their lives and the climate challenges the entire world faces. Science clearly shows that to avert the worst climate changes and preserve a habitable planet, limiting the emissions that cause global warming is necessary.

Change is necessary. First and foremost, for the local population and the world. We are all in this together.

We want to contribute to the knowledge of local people and to a process that will enable them to change the current situation. We want to give them the opportunity to build on our efforts afterward.

A Bright Future for the Lebanese

We are proud to announce that we have reached our goal in Bchaaleh, thanks to 11,894 participants who generously donated a total of 1.5 billion steps via the Xplora app. All these steps have led us to start the establishment of solar farms on 1 September, and since then, the project has been moving forward. The installation is expected to be completed by mid-December 2022, and with the increased amount of electricity, will enable more productive working hours, better healthcare, better learning environments, sustainable food production, and new business opportunities.