Scrutable

https://tree-nation.com/

Ever heard of it? Come across it? Any idea how reputable it is?

Seems like a nice idea - I bought some stuff online and then had a link saying they'd donated a tree on my behalf to Tree Nation (presumably meaning that my products weren't the very cheapest I could have bought, but that's fine).

However looking on the website it just seems to be a few people in an office in Spain, with little information about any of the practical details. I'm slightly concerned that it's just a greenwash suffering the usual problems with offset schemes of double counting etc.

Should there be more schemes like this for everything we buy? (competition between them?) does it actually make a difference? I've no idea how well it scales but with an aim for trillion extra trees there's probably room for the odd one or two more.

Wasn't he responsible for the creation of Dr Who?

I had a look at the website and am a bit suspicious.

First, I couldn’t find an annual report or anything else summarizing key information about the organization - eg is it a charity or a limited company, how is it governed, how much money did it receive last year, and how did it spend it.

Second, on the list of staff, they only had one person listed as working on projects. It’s feasible that one person channels funds to partners or clients who plant the trees. But one person won’t be enough to audit or evaluate projects to ensure that money is well spent.

Finally, the photos on the site that I saw were of individuals planting trees by hand. If they were actually planting a fuckton of trees over large areas they’d need to use machinery.

None of this is conclusive. But I prefer to donate money to organizations that are transparent about how they are run and what they do with your money.