Every minute we lose forest cover equivalent to 36 football fields. This means 13 million hectares of forest land disappear every year, an area equivalent to the size of Greece. The consequences are doubly negative for our planet: deforestation accounts for about 17% of Climate Change.
The loss of forests has more impact on greenhouse emissions than the entire transport sector worldwide. Trees act as the lungs of the planet, absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere, retaining carbon and releasing oxygen. A human being emits an average of 9 tons of CO2 per year, and a single tree is capable of cleaning up to 250 Kg of this CO2 during its lifespan. For every tree destroyed we are not only emitting more CO2 into the atmosphere, but we are aggravating the situation by removing one of our greatest allies in the fight against climate change.
Tree-Nation, the reforestation platform with the largest number of plantation projects and 5 million trees planted on 4 continents, was founded with the objective of fighting climate change. Tree-Nation coordinates reforestation efforts worldwide in a unique platform, enabling every citizen and company to take action. The platform currently has over 70 plantation projects located in 33 countries. To date, more than 118.000 citizens and 1.500 companies have used the platform to plant trees.
“We will not be able to win the fight against Climate Change unless we stop deforestation. We need to plant 4 billion trees per year every year for the next 10 years just to compensate for the deforestation that has occurred in the last decade”, points out Maxime Renaudin, Tree-Nation’s Founder and Director. “Trees are at least 100 times cheaper than the next best solution to store carbon. In addition, they bring many environmental and social benefits beyond absorbing carbon and releasing oxygen to the atmosphere. They are a natural resource which grows by itself and does not require the exploitation of other resources for its production”, adds Renaudin.
The Barcelona-based organisation uses proprietary technology to facilitate tree planting. The platform has more than 300 tree species available, making it possible for people and companies to participate in reforestation projects worldwide. Each planted tree has a dedicated URL, which allows monitoring of the tree growth and its CO2 compensation values, amongst other data. Trees can be offered as gifts thanks to this unique URL. The platform also provides companies with a tool to link tree planting with their performance, sales or service targets, as part of marketing or sustainability initiatives.
“Trees address some of the most threatening issues our generation is facing: pollution, species extinction, climate change, desertification, deforestation, floods, poverty, malnutrition and even deadly viruses. For many of these problems, planting trees is a critical part of the solution and both individuals and companies can now easily get involved and play their role in the fight for a more sustainable future”, comments Maxime Renaudin.
