FAQs

Why does Reforest exist?

The idea for Reforest grew from concern about climate change and the future we are leaving for the next generations to come. We were frustrated at the lack of options for regular people, like us, to have an impact on the carbon emissions from the products and services we buy. For many of us, it’s not feasible to avoid driving a car, buying groceries, or many of the other purchases which contribute to our carbon footprint.

We wanted a really tangible and meaningful way to remove those emissions, to restore ecosystems, and importantly also to encourage faster decarbonisation by the retailers we buy from. We wanted to be an active part of the solution, not passive bystanders.

Reforest exists to give everyone the power to reverse climate change and lead the shift to a new economy that restores the planet, instead of damaging it.

Is using Reforest the same as buying a carbon offset?

Using Reforest is similar to buying an offset in some ways, but is actually a much more tangible and powerful way to drive real change.

Let’s take the example of booking a flight – you may have noticed the carbon offset option on the airline’s website. The idea is that an offset will cancel out the carbon emissions from your flight. You pay for someone to cancel (retire) a carbon offset certificate which was generated by some kind of project, sometime in the past, somewhere in the world.

As well as being very abstract and intangible, buying offsets can be a bit controversial because they do nothing to change the future emissions of the airline you flew with. In theory the emissions from your flight were balanced by the certificate that was retired, but nothing got better or changed, so your next flight will generate the same amount of CO₂ and you’ll have to do it all over again. Remember, the goal is to get our retailers to zero emissions asap.

With Reforest you pay for new trees to be planted in a local project of your choice; trees that you can see and track over time, and which will help to restore native forests and biodiversity. Your trees are planted in certified reforestation projects, so they are carefully managed and audited to ensure they are removing CO₂.

How do you calculate how much CO₂ my trees will remove?

Trees absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere as they grow. Reliable data is available to forecast how fast different types of trees grow in different geographic and rainfall areas, and we can calculate how much carbon they will store over time. Reforest uses the Australian Government’s FullCAM model to calculate the carbon that will be stored over time by each Australian reforestation project we feature.

We calculate the amount of carbon that will be stored per hectare of the project’s planting area. We also use the project’s planting density (number of trees per hectare) to work out how much of that carbon each individual tree represents. This way, we can arrive at a reasonably scientific amount of CO₂ per tree planted.

As a forest grows over time some trees do not survive. This is natural and allows room for the stronger trees to thrive and create a full canopy. So our projects plant a high density of seedlings knowing that the end result will be a smaller number of fully grown trees that provide the right amount of cover and habitat, as well as the full amount of CO₂ sequestration that we planned.

When will my trees be planted?

In many parts of the country, tree planting can only happen at one or two specific times of the year when rainfall level and temperatures are optimal. Most projects listed in Reforest will be due to plant at the next planting season, at most 12 months in the future. You can purchase trees in a project until the trees that are available run out.

In some cases your trees will be planted very soon after your purchase. Even if your trees are not due to be planted for a few months, you will be kept updated as the project completes each initial stage including collecting seeds, preparing the ground, raising seedlings and then, of course, planting the trees themselves.

If we still have trees available in a project when the planting date comes around, Reforest may cover the basic cost to get those trees planted and your payment will then reimburse Reforest for that cost plus provide the extra care and protection required to ensure your trees thrive into the future.

How do I know my trees will actually be planted and protected?

Reforest provides you visibility of the project site via imagery and updates that you can access directly within the app. We also provide a link to the project’s official registry entry at the relevant authority, which in most Australian cases will be the Australia Government Clean Energy Regulator. As registered projects, they are regulated and must submit periodic audit reports to the authority to prove their authenticity.

A requirement for projects to be registered and featured in Reforest is that legal protection is put in place to ensure that those trees cannot be removed for at least 100 years. This is done by the project manager or landowner as a conservation covenant over the land. To help projects stay on track, we transfer your payment to them as they deliver the reforestation and biodiversity outcomes you have paid for.

Projects get a large chunk of your payment upfront to help them get underway, and the rest over a 10+ year period as they care for your trees. So we do everything possible to try to ensure that your trees survive and thrive into the future.

What happens if a fire or other event destroys my trees?

Reforest and the projects we support are committed to doing everything possible to ensure that the total amount of carbon you have paid to be reforested is actually removed from the atmosphere. Projects are periodically audited to ensure that they are delivering on their forecast level of carbon sequestration, and we only work with projects that follow best practices for fire and drought risk management.

As Reforest and the number of projects we support grows, we aim to build in a buffer of extra trees planted across all projects that will cover any unavoidable losses in particular projects, and we will try to help effected projects to recover.

If a project you have paid to plant trees in does not go ahead for some reason, we will let you know and will ensure that enough trees are planted for you in an alternative project to remove the same amount of CO₂.

How much of my payment goes directly to tree planting?

Your payment goes straight to the project to allow them to commence planting. Using Reforest, you are supporting high quality reforestation projects which would otherwise struggle to get funding and be viable. We take a small commission to cover our costs. Initially this is set at 17.5%, and we plan to reduce this as we increase in scale.

Our goal is to maximise the impact of your action by keeping our operation lean and converting as much of your payment as possible into trees. As a social benefit enterprise, we aim to earn a modest profit that enables us to grow sustainably. We do this by asking each project to plant a small number of extra trees for Reforest, and we sell the carbon offsets from those extra trees.

Therefore, our own success is closely aligned with the long-term success of the reforestation projects that you have paid to remove your CO₂ emissions and restore local ecosystems.

We call this ‘profit for impact’, because our model does not let us have one without the other. We think this is how the new economy needs to work, and so we aim to set an example that shows it is possible.

Is Reforest a non-profit, and is a tree purchase classed as a donation?

Reforest is an Australian social benefit enterprise (ABN 89 629 970 467). This means that having a positive impact on society and the environment is a core value by which we measure our success. We aim to have the greatest impact possible whilst also making a modest profit that will allow us to grow and be sustainable.

We call this ‘profit for impact’, because our model does not let us have one without the other. We think this is how the new economy needs to work, and so we aim to set an example that shows it is possible.

As a result, Reforest is not a registered charity and your payment is not a tax-deductible donation. For business in particular, we believe that addressing the carbon emissions of your operations is now a core business cost (and therefore deductible) rather than being a charitable donation.

How is the cost of planting one tree calculated?

Each project has its own unique costs, which Reforest has no influence over. When a project is submitted to Reforest, the landowner or project manager will calculate the total cost they need to charge per hectare of planting to make the project viable.

Reforest will divide that figure by the number of trees being planted per hectare to calculate an average cost per tree.
Landowners/Project Managers will consider the costs to prepare the ground, collect seeds native to the area, raise those seedlings, plant them and care for them until they are fully established.

What does my payment cover?

Your purchase pays for the preparation, planting, care and legal protection of your trees under conservation covenant for at least 100 years.

In some cases a project will offer other benefits in addition to CO₂ sequestration and biodiversity protection. You can read about all the benefits offered by each project by browsing the projects in the “Buy Trees” section of your account.

Every tree in your personal forest in your dashboard represents a real-life tree that has been planted in one of your chosen projects.

What's the survivability rate of the trees planted?

Your tree purchase covers not only its planting but also several years of maintenance and care to ensure that it has the very best chance of thriving. We require our partners on the ground to provide an annual report on the planting work, including survival rates, and we set an expectation of 90% survival at the first annual check.