Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Tree planting · Germany / Global · 2011–2024

Plant-for-the-Planet: 13.6 billion trees

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 4 none on record · 1 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 disputed See the gaps

A German foundation that took over the UN Environment Programme's tree campaign reported 13.6 billion trees planted. The figure has no independent verification; Die Zeit reported that older UN counts were mixed into it.

13.6bn / noneTrees reported planted vs independently verified
Foundation's own count.
What?
Plant-for-the-Planet, a German foundation, took over the UN Environment Programme's tree campaign and reported 13.6 billion trees planted, its own figure with no independent verification. Die Zeit reported that older UN counts had been mixed into the total. Wikipedia
Where?
Germany (the foundation); ETH Zurich, Switzerland (the funded lab); the count is global.
When?
Funding application 2016; lab set up 2017; Science paper July 2019 and Veldman comment October 2019; authors' correction and launch of 1t.org in 2020; follow-up study November 2023; Bloomberg analysis May 2024.
Who?
Gained
  • Plant-for-the-Planet — Control of the UN Environment Programme's tree-planting campaign and its count, reported at 13.6 billion trees (the foundation's own figure) Wikipedia
  • Crowther Lab, ETH Zurich — Set up in 2017 with German Development Ministry funding channelled through the foundation (amount not on record) Wikipedia
  • Eni, Frontera Energy and Adani Group — Listed as tree pledgers on the World Economic Forum's 1t.org platform, where 134.4 billion trees had been pledged and 2.6 billion planted or protected by May 2024 (Bloomberg analysis) REDD-Monitor
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
1t.org's legacy page says the platform was 'launched in 2020 in support of the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration'. A comment led by Joseph Veldman found the Crowther Lab's 2019 carbon estimate about five times too high, and the authors published a correction in 2020. Forest Future Alliance
How?
The foundation applied in 2016 for German Development Ministry funding, which was channelled through it to set up the Crowther Lab in 2017. The lab's 2019 Science paper, promoted with a public-relations firm, estimated that 0.9 billion hectares of new forest could store 205 gigatonnes of carbon. Wikipedia
In proportion On 1t.org, about 2% of pledged trees (2.6 billion of 134.4 billion) had been planted or protected by May 2024 (estimate). REDD-Monitor
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Plant-for-the-Planet, a German foundation, took over the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) tree-planting campaign and reported that 13.6 billion trees had been planted. The figure has no independent verification. Die Zeit reported that older UN counts had been mixed into the total.

In 2016 the foundation applied for funding from the German Development Ministry. The Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich was set up in 2017 with this funding, channelled through the foundation.

In July 2019 the lab's Bastin and colleagues wrote in Science that 0.9 billion hectares of new forest could store 205 gigatonnes of carbon. The lab worked with a public-relations firm to promote the paper. A comment led by Joseph Veldman in October 2019 found the carbon estimate about five times too high and noted that grasslands and savannas had been counted as land for trees. The authors published a correction in 2020.

In November 2023 the same team found that 61% of a 226-gigatonne potential came from protecting existing forests.

The World Economic Forum's separate 1t.org platform, launched in 2020, had 134.4 billion trees pledged by May 2024, according to a Bloomberg analysis; 2.6 billion had been planted or protected. Pledgers included the oil company Eni, Frontera Energy and the Adani Group.

  1. 2011Foundation's role in the UN tree campaign (period covered by the record begins)
  2. 2016Foundation applies to German Development Ministry for funding
  3. 2017Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich set up with the funding
  4. 2019Bastin et al. in Science: 205 Gt carbon on 0.9bn ha (Jul); Veldman comment: estimate about 5× too high (Oct)
  5. 2020Authors publish correction; WEF's 1t.org launched
  6. 2023Same team: 61% of potential from protecting existing forests (Nov)
  7. 2024Bloomberg: 134.4bn trees pledged to 1t.org, 2.6bn planted or protected (May)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

“Launched in 2020 in support of the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.”

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • 13.6 billion trees planted
  • Tree planting as the leading climate solution (2019 study)
  • A trillion trees

Recorded

  • 13.6 billion: the foundation's own count, no independent verification
  • Older UN counts reported mixed into the total (Die Zeit)
  • Lab behind the 2019 study set up with ministry funding channelled through the foundation
  • 2019 carbon estimate found about five times too high; correction in 2020
  • 1t.org: 134.4bn pledged, 2.6bn planted or protected (May 2024)

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
German Development Ministry funding channelled through the foundation to set up the Crowther Lab—
Amount not in the source record.
Currency: EUR · Window: —. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Trees reported (foundation)
13.6bn
No independent verification
1t.org pledged vs planted or protected
134.4bn / 2.6bn
Bloomberg analysis, May 2024
2019 carbon estimate
~5× too high
Veldman et al.; authors' correction 2020

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
No court caseNo independent ecological evaluation

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.

Money

  • None on record German Development Ministry funding channelled through the foundation to set up the Crowther Lab — Amount not in the source record.

Court

Record

  • None on record How the 13.6 billion figure was counted and how many trees survive: no independent verification.
  • Insufficient Reported, not verified: Die Zeit and Stern reported that some of the foundation's planting sites in Yucatán, Mexico, were already forested, burned or under up to two metres of water, and that a publisher suspended its support.
  • None on record The amount of German Development Ministry funding channelled through the foundation.
  • Disputed 1t.org's own legacy page gives 9.7 billion trees committed by 93 companies, against 134.4 billion pledged in the Bloomberg analysis; the difference is not explained.

Did the harm stop?

Not applicable.

Who paid?

Not quantified.

Sources

Voices on record: ✓ Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society✓ Researchers

Company or project

  1. 1t.org legacy page
    Forest Future Alliance · current

Press and investigations

  1. Plant-for-the-Planet
    Wikipedia · current

Communities and civil society

Researchers

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Science and environment

Hectare (ha)
A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.

Carbon and conservation finance

REDD+
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation. A UN framework under which forest projects earn carbon credits for deforestation they say they prevented, measured against a projected baseline.

Law and courts

Arbitration
A private dispute process in which an appointed arbitrator, instead of a court, decides the case.

Insurance

Underwriter
An insurer, or a person at an insurer, who assesses a risk and decides whether and on what terms to insure it.
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