Tree planting FAQs

Our partners love to know exactly where their money is going when it comes to planting trees. They want to know where they are planted, who they are planted by, what are the benefits socially and environmentally etc… We have written up two blogs on both of our partners explaining the partnership in detail. However, we thought it was about time we wrote up this blog to answer some of our tree planting FAQs. 

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1. Where do Treepoints plant trees?

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At Treepoints we take a portfolio approach to tree planting, therefore we plant trees in many different locations all over the world! The two partners who we work with are Eden Reforestation Projects and Trees for the Future (TFTF). 

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With Eden we currently contribute to some of their general planting sites in Kenya, Mozambique and Madagascar and we also contribute to a shared grow site in Nepal. We have built this relationship with Eden so we know where in the world our partners' funding is going.

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We have also brought on a new partner this year, Trees for the Future. We did this to diversify our portfolio with new planting techniques and methodologies. Trees for the Future plant solely in Africa and plant using the Forest Garden approach. 

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2. How do you know the tree will survive?

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There is no guarantee the trees will survive. However, we have chosen partners that take as many measures as possible to ensure that the trees that they do plant are looked after and monitored to ensure that the money is going towards sustainable growth. Here is TFTF’s response when we asked them about the permanence and legitimacy of their tree planting.

‘That's the beauty of the Forest Garden approach: we work with farmers and give them all the tools and training they need to establish healthy, self-sustainable Forest Gardens comprised of thousands of diverse trees. We also monitor the trees with the farmers over a few years to ensure success. 

These trees belong to the farmer, who has dedicated a lot of their time and labor to grow the little saplings into healthy trees.’

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Eden are constantly reviewing their process and pricing structure and this is why different planting sites have different prices. They are also working with some of their partners to raise additional funds to invest in the people, tools, and techniques they need to track and improve performance, especially at the more remote or otherwise challenging sites to ensure that trees survive and grow.

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They also recently hired a Chief Quality Officer who is establishing a more evidence-based monitoring system that increases transparency and allows more accountability towards their stakeholders.

‘We are developing changes to how we work, both to take advantage of the new science and technology available and to adapt to the challenging realities on the ground of our projects.’

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3. What benefits do trees provide to the environment?

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Lots of people immediately think of carbon capture and storage when they consider the benefits of tree planting. However, this is just one of a plethora of benefits! In fact, at Treepoints we actually don’t credit carbon offsets to tree planting as we believe that there are stronger, more robust methodologies for measuring other projects. 

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The tree planting benefits stand strong enough alone, without needing to put a number of the carbon sequestered. 

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The benefits can include, but not limited to:

• Increase biodiversity
• Clean the air
• Take in carbon
• Help mitigate natural disasters
• Cooling local environment through transpiration
• Give you a serotonin boost! (check out our insta reel walking round the trees by our office)

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4. Does planting trees stop climate change?

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One of many actions needed to halt and reverse the effects of climate change. We have destroyed the natural state of our world and a large part of this is down to deforestation. Reforesting and protecting our current forests is essential in stopping climate change. However, the current rate of reforestation is not enough to stop climate change therefore, other mechanisms need to be deployed to match the urgency of the climate crisis. 

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5. We often get asked the question, how much carbon are we offsetting when we plant trees with the Treepoints tree planting portfolio? 

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Short answer: 

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We have separate tree planting and carbon offsetting portfolios so, we do not attribute any carbon offsets to the tree planting. 

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Long answer: 

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There are many reasons behind this decision.

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1. Our tree planting partners are not certified as carbon offset providers by certified bodies such as Verra or Gold Standard. They may have loose methodologies that give a rough estimate of carbon sequestered by a tree planted through them, however, this is not calculated using a certified methodology, or validated by an external body. 

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2. Mitigation deterrence: Tree planting (reforestation) is often seen as an exceptionally cheap tool for tackling climate change (1). However, promises of cheap carbon removal in the future means that less time could be spent in reducing emissions now. There will be a lack of investment in climate technologies, such as renewable energy, if companies/governments see a cheaper alternative in tree planting to reach the same apparent end goal. 

On top of this, emissions trading schemes, which hold large emitters to account and force them to lower/pay for their emissions, will become less effective if the price for emitting is cheap and easy. Prices should remain high to ‘trigger more challenging, yet urgently needed, forms of emission reduction’ (2).

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3. A false economy: Given the instability of our climate there is also no guarantee that the trees that are planted will not be lost in wildfire or logging, for example. Also, due to the nature of how slowly trees grow, this gives more time for these events to happen that can cause trees not to be planted, cut down or destroyed. On top of this, their slow growth also means that it is hard to measure how much carbon is sequestered. Our warming climate also means that ‘In many regions of the world but particularly in the tropics, growth rates are predicted to fall as the climate warms and devastating wildfires become more frequent.’ (2). Basically, carbon removal via tree planting can often create imaginary removals long term, instead of increasing support for genuine short term action.

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This being said…. We LOVE planting trees. You can read all about our fantastic tree partners here and here. They are doing incredible work all over the world to help improve social stability and boost the local environment. Their benefits are numerous.

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We just don’t want tree planting to get confused with carbon offsetting!

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Any questions please feel free to get in touch. 

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Sources

1. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aax0848
2. (2) https://bit.ly/3F1QWoN

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