Since day one, we’ve planted a tree for every order. It’s a core part of what we do, what we stand for and is our way of helping protect our planet by giving back.
Plant & Protect is what we call our evergreen tree planting project. It’s a simple way of saying that for every order we plant a tree (Plant), and that we fund projects that protect rainforests, wildlife and indigenous communities across the globe (& Protect).
As of July 2023, Passenger has planted over 520,000 trees, and helped protect over 28 million sqm of rainforest. It’s something we’ve always done, and always will, so we’re going back to our roots and reminding ourselves of how far we’ve come since we started tree planting in 2012.
Passenger's Tree Planting Partners
Our Plant & Protect project supports three organisations: Trees For The Future, The Rainforest Trust, and One Tree Planted. So every time you buy something from Passenger, or one of our retail partners who stock our products, you’ll not only be planting a tree, but supporting the work these awesome initiatives do to help reforest wasteland and conserve rainforests around the world.
Trees For The Future (TREES) is the org that manages our tree planting for every order. Since 1989, they’ve planted over 300 million trees that have helped bring back to life land that had been ruined due to deforestation, unsustainable land use and harmful farming practices in Senegal, Mali, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
Creating Forest Gardens to Support Communities
TREES’ unique Forest Garden Approach has given farmers and their families a chance to reclaim their land, freeing them from generational poverty and allowing them to rebuild food systems to provide for their communities.
And the stats are impressive… Using this approach has increased access to nutrition by 706% in these communities, increased income by 98% and captured 4.5million metric tonnes of CO2 since 1989. The root systems from the trees planted also help prevent soil erosion, which protects the land for generations to come.
Farmers are trained in agroforestry over four years, which means thousands of fast-growing trees get planted on each farm. Soil is revitalised and because they plant so many varieties of trees, the full lifecycle of the farm is sustained through diverse layers of vegetation and fruitful permagardens.
Passenger’s impact on TREES
LERWA (Land and Environmental Rights Watch Africa) is a not-for-profit organisation in Uganda that empowers communities, particularly women and young people, towards sustainable environmental preservation and protection.
Here’s a rundown of how your orders helped support the LERWA project in 2022:
Total carbon offsets: Between 2019 and 2022, Passenger planted trees that will capture 15,494 metric tonnes of CO2.
"Your donations help plant a diverse selection of tree species, each having a role in restoring the environment. In the Forest Garden, those trees will help fix nitrogen in the soil, bring back biodiversity and have a positive impact on many levels. The environment is being restored, and farmers now have access to nutritious food and fodder for their animals."
Protecting rainforests and their ecosystems is one of the main ways we can slow down the impact of climate change. Tropical forests hold onto carbon yet still, acres of rainforest are lost every single day due to deforestation and degradation.
Rainforest Trust uses 100% of our donations to conserve rainforests and preserve habitats.
Since 2019, we’ve donated monthly to Rainforest Trust’s Conservation Action Fund. This directly supports the protection of endangered species, protects the traditional way of life for Indigenous Peoples and conserves the biodiversity of rainforests around the world.
"100% of Passenger’s donations go to direct conservation action, meaning every penny goes to protecting threatened tropical habitat for endangered species and the climate."
Since partnering with Rainforest Trust, Passenger has protected 7,536 acres of rainforest (correct as of July 2023), which is around the same size as Bath or the country of Lesotho in southern Africa. In 2022 alone, we protected 1,700 acres, which is larger than the footprint of Glastonbury festival (1,100 acres).
One Tree Planted aims to inspire positivity and hope through tree planting. It’s a simple way of making a big difference — and through their years of experience growing a global network of reforestation partners, they are restoring forest ecosystems in over 74 countries that have experienced deforestation, climate change, and other environmental impacts.
We partnered with One Tree Planted in 2022, and so far have been able to plant 1,319 trees as part of three amazing projects. Check them out below.
Talladega 2023 - Blue Ridge Mountains Restoration
Location: Alabama, USA
Area under restoration: 1,000 hectares
Tree type: Longleaf pine
Aim: Maintain and restore the unique montane longleaf pine ecosystem
Benefits:
- - Ecological benefits to wildlife native to the area
- - Supports rural communities that rely on careers and revenue generated by outdoor recreation industries in the area
- - Sustainable forest management
Trees planted by Passenger: 350
Romania 2022 - Wind damage reforestation in Transylvania
Location: Romania, Europe
Area under restoration: 129 hectares
Tree types: Beech, pine and spruce
Aim: Reforest the area with native beech, pine and spruce trees that are much better suited to the environment and will withstand a changing climate.
Benefits:
- - Many trees in this area that were planted as part of previous forestry practices are prone to catastrophic damage by wind due to high altitude and their shallow roots. This has a devastating impact on eco-tourism and the local communities, so by reforesting with native species, this impact can be drastically reduced.
Trees planted by Passenger: 631
England 2021 - Essex Forest Initiative
Location: Essex, UK
Area under restoration: 40 hectares
Tree types: Over 25!
Aim: Create and connect woodland in areas where forest habitats were sparse due to agricultural and urban development.
Benefits:
- - Protect over 100 wildlife species including 20 endangered/threatened species
- - Introduce new tree species to the area that builds a diverse ecosystem
- - Communities nearby benefit from cleaner air.
Trees planted by Passenger: 338
We love it when our community reaches out to ask questions about Plant & Protect, here are some of the things we get asked regularly. Something else on your mind? Feel free to get in touch.
Do you plant the trees yourselves?
TREES manages our tree planting for every order. However the Passenger team will be heading out, shovels in hand, to plant our own trees with One Tree Planted very soon - keep an eye on our socials to follow the story.
Where are the trees planted?
Your orders will help fund tree planting projects in the UK as well as much further afield, such as Uganda or the United States.
In order to have the biggest impact, our conservation partners choose exactly where to plant trees based on the needs of the projects they are working on at that time.
If I return my order, will you chop down my tree?
Regardless of whether you return your order or not, a tree will still be planted for every order you make on our website.
What happens on Green Friday?
For the last 6 years, we’ve turned Black Friday green, and in 2022, upped our tree planting to 5 trees for every order. You can read more on that on our Green Friday 2022 page.
For Green Friday this year, we’ll be heading out on a team tree planting trip of our own with One Tree Planted. Keep an eye on our socials to follow the story and see how we’ll be giving back in other ways too.