Planting Trees for Our Clients.

“In Europe, every person causes 9 tons of CO2 emissions each year. One tree can absorb an average of 3 tons of CO2 over a life time of 100 years.” - Green Forest Fund e.V.

Ever since we specialized in communicating for clients that focus on sustainability, we’ve been keen to make our practice a little more sustainable as well. Alongside carbon offsetting our flights, taking the train within Europe, and having a strict no paper policy, we also thought “Why not plant a tree for each new client we communicate for?”

Easier said than done. There are so many tree planting NGOs and regular organizations out there that we felt completely overwhelmed by the idea of selecting one company to plant trees with. The price per tree ranged from 1 EUR to 50 EUR, and so we had to dig a little deeper in order to understand the differences in pricing, and what to watch out for when paying someone to plant your trees.

Beyond identifying the pricing strategy, it is also important to take a look behind the scenes and inquire who manages the forest land you are investing into, and what exactly happens to the planted trees. Many forestry projects plant trees, but they also cut them down again for economic gain.

We decided to scout for an organization in a country that is unlikely to be corrupt due to the strong (and sometimes incredibly exhausting-to-work-with) rules and regulations in place: Germany.

According to Green Forest Fund, only 2% of the forests in Germany currently have a protected status, but even with that status the trees can still be harvested.

Since our HQ is located in Germany, we thought it makes a lot of sense to plant trees locally. The cost per tree is significantly higher than in developing countries, for example, but we are guaranteed that our tree will still be standing in 100 years. Each tree comes with an individual tracking number and is officially registered.

Unlike many other forestry projects, Green Forest Fund exists for the sole purpose to let trees grow as old as they can get - so they can absorb as much CO2 a possible in one lifetime. This unique feature was clearly communicated, and the main reason why decided to use this NGO to plant trees for our clients this year.

Ready to plant your own tree or gift a tree to someone for a special occasion? Visit https://www.greenforestfund.de/en/ to help reduce our CO2 emissions a little.