Evertreen: Your Best Tree Planting Platform

Evertreen is a tree-planting platform built around one principle: every tree you fund is a specific, real tree in a specific, real place — geolocated with GPS, photographed as it grows, and planted by local teams who are paid to maintain it. Trees start from £1.5, and for organisations that need audited tonnes, certified Verra and Gold Standard carbon credits are available alongside the planting. This page explains what that actually means in practice, and what to check before you trust any platform with a reforestation budget.

What makes a tree-planting platform credible

The uncomfortable truth about this sector is that "we planted a million trees" is an easy sentence to write and a hard one to verify. Before comparing providers, it helps to know which questions separate a serious operation from a marketing exercise:

• Can you locate an individual tree? Not a project, a region or a country — a coordinate.
• Who plants and maintains it, and are they paid? Planting is the cheap part; the first three years of maintenance are what decide survival.
• What happens after planting? Monitoring, replanting where needed, and honest reporting of survival rates.
• Are the species native and site-appropriate? The wrong tree in the wrong place can damage the ecosystem it was meant to help.
• Is the carbon maths published? A single flattering per-tree figure with no methodology is a warning sign.

Traceable by default, not on request

Every Evertreen tree carries a GPS pin, progress photos and field video from the planting teams. That matters for two different audiences. For an individual, it turns an abstraction into something you can look at on a map and show someone. For a company, it is the difference between a sustainability claim your customers take on trust and one they can check for themselves — which is increasingly what regulators and procurement teams expect.

It also changes internal behaviour. When each tree is individually located, "how many did we plant" stops being the only number in the room and "where, which species, and are they still alive" become answerable questions.

Reforestation projects with people in them

Evertreen works through local planting teams and community partners rather than parachuting in for a photo. That produces the co-benefits that make reforestation worth doing beyond the carbon: paid work in rural areas, soil and watershed protection, biodiversity recovery and a local incentive for the forest to still be standing in ten years' time. You can browse the live sites on the planting projects page and see the species, the country and the teams behind each one.

Site selection follows the same logic as species selection: restoring a forest that was recently lost is generally lower-risk and higher-value than planting trees on land that was never woodland. The distinction, and why it matters ecologically, is covered in reforestation vs afforestation.

Honest carbon accounting

Planting trees is a long-duration carbon removal, not an instant cancellation. A sapling absorbs very little in its first years, accelerates through its growth phase and continues for decades — which is why Evertreen publishes its assumptions in how we estimate tree CO₂ rather than quoting one headline number, and applies conservative, species-specific estimates that already allow for mortality.

If you need audited tonnes in a reporting year, planting is the wrong instrument on its own. That is what certified Verra and Gold Standard credits are for, and Evertreen supplies both, retired on your behalf with registry documentation. Most organisations end up using each for what it is good at — the trade-off is set out in tree planting vs carbon offsets.

For individuals: gifts, forests and single trees

You can plant one tree or build a forest. Trees start at £1.5, and the same traceability applies at any scale — a single gifted tree gets the same GPS pin as a corporate grove. Gifting is one of the most common uses: a named certificate, a location on a map, and something that outlasts the occasion. See trees as a gift for how it works and who it suits.

For companies: from one-off to built-in

Organisations use the platform in three broad ways:

1. A defined planting programme — a branded forest that grows year on year, with the data available for ESG reporting.
2. Gifting at scale — a tree per client, per employee milestone or per event attendee, with individually named certificates and no shipping.
3. Automated planting — an API and Shopify integration that trigger a tree per order, per subscription or per new hire, so the programme scales with the business rather than needing an annual decision.

Start by sizing the problem with the free CO₂ calculator, then decide how much you are reducing and what you are funding on top — the order that keeps a claim defensible.

What we don't claim

Worth stating plainly, because it is rarer than it should be. Planting trees does not make a company carbon neutral by itself. Purchased credits do not count towards science-based reduction targets. Trees can die, which is why survival monitoring and conservative estimates matter more than headline numbers. And from 27 September 2026, EU rules restrict marketing a product to consumers as carbon neutral on the basis of offsetting — so contribution language is both safer and more accurate. If a platform tells you otherwise, that is the moment to ask harder questions.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to plant a tree with Evertreen? From £1.5 per tree, whether you are planting one or several thousand, with the same traceability at any volume.

Can I see exactly where my tree is? Yes. Every tree has GPS coordinates plus progress photos and field videos from the planting team, rather than a general project description.

Who plants and looks after the trees? Local planting teams and community partners in each country, paid for the planting and the maintenance that follows.

Does planting trees make my company carbon neutral? No. Planting is a long-term removal contribution. For audited claims in a reporting year, pair it with certified credits retired in your name.

Can businesses automate tree planting? Yes, through the API and Shopify integration — commonly a tree per order, per new hire or per client milestone.

What happens if a tree doesn't survive? Sites are monitored and maintained, and absorption estimates are set conservatively to account for mortality rather than assuming perfect survival.

How do I choose between planting and buying carbon credits? Credits give audited tonnes now; trees give visible, growing removal plus biodiversity and engagement value. Most organisations budget for both.