Trees and your footprint
It is one of the most asked questions about trees. The honest answer is more hopeful than a single number: make your footprint smaller where you can, and plant trees as a contribution that keeps growing for decades.
A$9 per tree, VAT included
of CO2 per person in 2024: the world average from burning fossil fuels and from industry.
Our World in Data, Global Carbon Budget 2025per person in the United States in 2024, and 5.4 t in the EU. Where you live and how you live make a big difference.
Our World in Data, Global Carbon Budget 2025of dry wood holds one tonne of CO2: 1,000 ÷ 3.67 ÷ 0.47. A young tree needs decades to grow that much wood.
Our calculation from IPCC factorsA carbon footprint is the greenhouse gas your life causes in a year: travel, heating and electricity, food and the things you buy. The world average for CO2 from fossil fuels and industry was about 4.7 tonnes per person in 2024, and in wealthier countries it is often much higher. A footprint calculator from your country's environment agency gives you a closer number for your own life.
You will find pages that turn your footprint into a number of trees. The maths looks simple: about 47% of dry wood is carbon, and every kilogram of carbon was once 3.67 kilograms of CO2, so roughly 580 kg of dry wood holds one tonne of CO2. But a seedling weighs almost nothing. It takes decades to grow that much wood, every forest grows at its own pace, and your footprint comes back every year. A tree planted today cannot cancel what you emit today.
That is why we don't promise kilograms of CO2 per tree, and why we don't call trees an offset.
The biggest changes usually come from a few choices: flying less and taking the train for shorter trips, driving less, heating and powering your home with less energy, eating more plants and buying fewer new things. Small, steady steps are easier to keep than big promises.
Planting trees is not an eraser, but it is a real good thing to do. Every tree we plant becomes part of a new forest on former grassland, a forest that did not exist before. It gives birds and insects a home, and it stores more carbon every year as it grows. We look after it for decades and tell you how it grows.
Instead of chasing one big number, try a small habit: one tree for every month of the year, or one for every trip you take. Plant them all at once or one at a time. With the same name and e-mail, your trees add up into one row on our leaderboard.
We plant on former grassland, so every tree becomes part of a forest that did not exist before.
We look after the young forest as it grows, so the trees can store carbon for a long time.
Updates at every step and a yearly impact report.
Twelve for the year, or one now and more later. Each costs A$9.
It goes on our leaderboard, or stays hidden if you prefer.
We plant in the next season and report on how it grows.
In theory, a grown tree with about 580 kg of dry wood holds one tonne of CO2. But a young tree needs decades to grow that big, and growth differs from site to site. That is why we don't sell trees as an offset or promise CO2 per tree.
We suggest not. Say what you did instead: "I planted 12 trees this year." It is true, clear and something to be proud of.
As many as feels right to you. Many people like one tree a month, or one for every flight or long trip. Each tree costs A$9.
Yes. Use the same name and e-mail each time and your trees add up into one row on the leaderboard.
