By making their funeral homes and crematoriums more sustainable, offering green funeral services, promoting awareness and education, one of the largest funeral insurers in the Netherlands wants to provide fully climate-neutral funerals by 2030. They want to achieve this by working together with their partners. One of those partners is the family business Van der Lans & Busscher Staatsietransport, a true pioneer in the field of sustainable funeral transport. 

sustainability

In conversation with Jan Busscher, funeral insurer DELA discusses the sustainable goals that they can only achieve if they join forces. A reason for us to take over part of the striking interview. “Sustainability started to play a role at Van der Lans & Busscher about nine years ago,” says Jan Busscher. As a little boy he washed the cars, and now he is the director of the family business. “We drive from home a lot with traditional cars, such as Cadillac and Mercedes. Those are polluting cars, we can be very clear about that. I slowly noticed that it was starting to bother me. It was precisely during that period that the first Tesla models came on the market and I saw opportunities for us in this.”

Funeral cars must meet special requirements. On the one hand, they must have enough space for a coffin and for flowers. On the other hand, they must be practical, safe and manageable so that a family member can drive them if necessary. When DELA started looking for a transport partner, it was Van der Lans & Busscher an obvious choice. Both parties have sustainable goals and expect the same from their partners. Of the 16.000 trips per year, Van der Lans & Busscher now makes about 6.000 to 7.000 trips for DELA, and that number is increasing.