Are your trees gold standard?
No, be careful what you wish for. You may see our competitors offering gold standard tree planting - this means carbon credits are raised from their trees, ask yourself if funding gold standard or similar projects, who is receiving the carbon credits? If you don't receive the carbon credit, then where is it going? If you pay to plant a tree, surely you want the carbon from that tree to be attributed to you? None of our planters raise carbon credits from their trees, the carbon from our trees is not third party audited but is entirely attributed to you. Our subscribers are people or SME companies, they don't have a requirement for audited carbon, we work to make sure as many trees as possible survive and always to plant more than required.
Carbon Credits
We've received a fair few requests from large companies for UK carbon credits, WCU (Woodland Carbon Units), and we are looking to run pilot UK projects where we purchase or lease land, plant trees and raise carbon credits from them. We will be offering up shares in these projects, for example if you fund 10% of a project, then you receive 10% of the WCU as they mature. Keep in mind if you are looking to buy carbon credits, then the trees from which the credits were sourced were planted many years ago, our projects will make a fresh difference whilst delivering scarce UK carbon units in time for future net zero goals.
Key objectives our of carbon projects:
o Adhere to the Woodland Carbon Code
o Creating longterm woodland, never to be logged
o Plant a variety of mostly native tree species
o Create wildflower meadows in the interim whilst our trees grow
o Create beautiful, diverse, nature-rich sites whilst sharing stories & multimedia as we progress
o HS2 is very close to our offices, we aim to purchase parcels of land they no longer need and plant on them
Drop us an email if you would like to find out more.
Who are your tree planters?
Our list of current active planters:
OblongTrees (UK)
Ripple Africa (Malawi)
Mount Kenya Environmental Conservation (Kenya)
Promise The Pod (USA)
One Tree Planted (Indonesia)
Global Forest Generation (South America)
15trees (Australia)
The Pole Pole Foundation (DR Congo)
Where does the money go?
All of the money we receive goes to vetted, responsible tree planting schemes around the world.
We don't receive all of the money you pay us - payment providers charge up to 3.5%.
Our data business Oblong (UK) Ltd is currently covering all administration & advertising costs.
What planting proof do you offer?
We offer photos of our planting projects as standard. For our commonly used tree planters we are rolling out photos with embedded timestamp and GPS coordinates. We're also using https://restor.eco/ through the Restor portal we can show where our trees have been planted on a map - you can also see the area over time, so as time goes on you'll be able to see arial snapshots and watch the trees grow.
How does your counter work?
For now we've based our counter on the number of trees we've planted, and each one taking up to 0.7 tonne of CO2 out of the atmosphere in 40 years (taking into account survival rates). We've only been planting trees since 2019, even our oldest trees are still young so are currently absorbing about a quarter of the CO2 they will at age 10 - we have taken this into account by using an exponential growth curve. We've recently launched counters for our customers showing the CO2 they've removed from the atmosphere. With all of our counters we've tried to give a conservative estimate.
We've chosen cubic feet for now as it's easy to envisage a cubic foot, later as we plant more we'll change to cubic metres.
From time to time we adjust the main website counter. Updates boosted the base estimate as they include the latest trees. So if you notice a leap in numbers, this will be why.
We need more proof, what can you do?
Let us know what you need and we'll do what we can, we may have to charge a little more but if it's possible we'll do it.
What is the maximum amount of trees you can plant in one year?
Our operation is scaleable, some of our planters are already planting millions of trees a year. By spreading our tree planting around the world we can make the most of the different planting seasons.
It may take a little longer, but we should be able to cope with planting any number of trees.
What percentage of trees survive?
Our UK survival rates are very high 95%+ even despite the long dry summer of 2022, over which we watered our trees on a rotation ensuring maximum survival. Our average amongst international planters is about 85%. We plant more trees than required to compensate for this. It is always possible that drought/adverse weather may cause a significant loss - we will always do our best to replace trees we've lost.
On the 10 year plan after 10 years, then what happens?
It is entirely up to you. You'll have done your bit, but it would be helpful if you would continue paying a little to plant, maintain & protect trees, it's your choice.
Why OblongTrees?
Most importantly the carbon from our projects goes to you. Our competitors talk about gold standard tree planting projects - this can mean that you are paying to plant trees and later carbon credits are raised and sold from those trees. If you are paying for gold standard trees then you should get the carbon credits.
We also looked at the market place and found it cluttered with numerous figures, statistics and companies. We realised that trying to calculate your carbon footprint could be inaccurate, expensive and even put companies off. We've attempted to simplify the process for both businesses and consumers, and have created a top-down plan that is both simple to understand and affordable.
Why not plant all the trees in the UK?
We would like to, but costs make it prohibitive, to plant a tree in the UK can cost 20 times what it can in other countries, and as our aim is to offset as much CO2 as possible we need to plant trees in countries where we get good value for money. Land and labour costs are far lower and the benefits to what are predominantly poor communities far greater. Furthermore, tropical forests are very beneficial to the climate because they take up carbon and increase cloud, which in turn helps cool the planet.
When do you plant trees?
Although local climate will dictate tree planting seasons, as a general rule winter\spring is the best time for planting trees, which in the northern hemisphere is December to March and in the southern hemisphere in June to September. However, we have several locations where it is possible to plant all year round and with no winter season these trees grow faster.
What happens when I place my order?
When an order is placed, we will create a tree planting plan for you. In some instances (where we have stock ready at nurseries and conditions are correct for tree planting) we will be able to begin planting quickly, other times it may take a few months before a tree actually goes in the ground, but we will update you as to plans and progress.
What trees do you plant?
It varies by country, we listen to local experts and go with their advice, generally choosing trees that are less susceptible to disease, tolerant to wide range of growing conditions (variable heat, cold, wind, water), a mix of native and non-native species that will fit in with the local ecosystem. Some of our trees are grown from seed, whilst others are from cuttings or stems cut from existing trees.
Do you work with other organisations?
We are reliant upon growing and planting organisations throughout the globe, their local expertise is invaluable.
What does carbon dioxide have to do with climate change?
Most of our atmosphere is made up of nitrogen (78 per cent by volume) and oxygen (21 per cent by volume). The remaining one per cent of the atmospheric gases are known as trace gases because they are present in such small concentrations. Despite their relative scarcity, the most important trace gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are the greenhouse gases (GHGs).
Carbon dioxide (CO2) which accounts for 380 of every million molecules (ppm) in the air, is the most abundant of the six greenhouse gases identified under the Kyoto Protocol. The other five are Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O), Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). Despite being present in such small concentratons, carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases help to keep the Earth 33°C warmer than it would otherwise be without an atmosphere. The level of CO2 in the air stabilised at a fairly constant 270-280ppm for hundreds of years until the Industrial Revolution. Since then it has steadily increased and is now about 380ppm and is continuing to rise at between one and two ppm per year, which in turn is causing a rise in temperature.
How is CO2 released into the atmosphere?
Carbon is released as CO2 when we burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. It is also produced when animals and plants use oxygen to burn energy from food or when they die.
Globally how much CO2 are we adding to the atmosphere each year?
Currently it is estimated that there are about 3,000 gigatonnes of CO2 in the air. Each year humans add about 26 gigatonnes of CO2, mainly by burning fossil fuels. The rate of CO2 emissions varies depending on economic activity. However, the total amount of CO2 in the air has risen every year since we started to measure it in the 1950s.
What is Carbon Neutral?
Carbon Neutral is a term used to describe the state of an entity (such as a company, service, product or event), where the carbon emissions caused by them have been balanced out by funding an equivalent amount of carbon savings elsewhere in the world.
There are an increasing number of businesses claiming to be carbon neutral. They recognise that being carbon neutral can play a key part of their sustainability and Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy whilst enabling them to do their bit for global climate change. They also realise that individuals and corporate customers prefer to buy products and services from environmentally conscious suppliers.
© Oblong (UK) Ltd