Diesel in, trees out.
We run diesel-powered eight-seater minibuses (and now one EV). That comes with a footprint, and we'd rather face it than dress it up. So every month we put real money into two charities doing the slow, unglamorous work of fixing what people like us wear down.
The honest version
Saying “we're green” is easy. Doing something about it is harder.
We drive people. Mostly in diesel minibuses, because they're the right tool for an eight-seater run with luggage to Edinburgh and back. We are very slowly bringing electric into the fleet — one EV is on the road, more will follow as the charging network matures across rural Fife and the Highlands — but we're not going to pretend we're carbon-neutral tomorrow. We're not.
What we can do, every single month, is put money into two organisations that are restoring the bit of Scotland we drive through. Trees for Life is rewilding the Caledonian Forest — the wood that used to cover the Highlands before centuries of grazing and clearance reduced it to fragments. WWF supports the wildlife and ecosystems that depend on those forests, peatlands and seas surviving the next century.
We donate a minimum of ten native trees a month to Trees for Life, plus a recurring monthly contribution to WWF's UK programme. It's small. It's also real, and it adds up. After a few years of this, our grove on the Dundreggan estate is starting to look like an actual patch of forest.
Rewilding the Caledonian Forest, one sapling at a time.
Trees for Life is a Scottish conservation charity that has spent more than 25 years quietly putting native trees back into the Highlands. Scots pine. Birch. Rowan. Aspen. The kind of forest the red squirrel, the pine marten and the capercaillie evolved alongside, and the kind that locks carbon away for hundreds of years.
Their flagship rewilding centre at Dundreggan, on the road to Skye, is the world's first. If you're ever heading west on one of our Highland tours, ask the driver to pull in. It's extraordinary.
- 2.4M+
- Native trees planted in the Highlands by Trees for Life
- 10,000
- Acres rewilded at Dundreggan, the world's first rewilding centre
- 25+
- Years of restoring the Caledonian Forest
Each tree costs £6.About the price of a couple of coffees, lasts a couple of centuries. If you travelled with us, or you're about to, you can plant one straight into our grove and watch it appear on the map.
Donate a tree to our groveTrees alone aren't enough.
A planted forest only counts if there's wildlife living in it, peat below it holding carbon, and seas around it that haven't been emptied. WWF works at that scale — ecosystem-wide, evidence-led, and unafraid of the political conversations that conservation actually requires.
We support their UK programme with a recurring monthly contribution, and we're especially proud of the work happening on our doorstep:
Scottish wildcats
Backing the breeding and release programmes that are bringing the UK's last native cat back from the brink of extinction.
Peatland & climate
Scotland holds more carbon in its peat than the rest of the UK's forests combined. WWF helps fund the science and restoration that keeps it locked in the ground.
Sustainable seas
Cleaner rivers, healthier kelp forests, and a North Sea that can keep feeding us for another generation.
You don't have to be a customer to chip in.
If a six-pound tree feels like the right kind of small, here's the link. Plant one for a friend, plant one for the airport transfer you're about to book, plant one because it's Tuesday. They all count.
Trees for Life is a registered Scottish charity (SC021303). WWF-UK is a registered charity (1081247). St Andrews Shuttle is not affiliated with either organisation — we're just supporters.