Thanks to our Trees for Life campaign, we’ve planted over 8 million trees around the world. Our commitment to tree planting started in 1990 – with a pledge to plant one million trees shared on boxes of Yorkshire Tea. We reached that initial target at the turn of the millennium and carried on, reaching the five million tree milestone in 2020.
As a business that relies on agriculture for much of what we do, it makes sense for us to care for the health of the environment. Planting and protecting trees around the world has taught us the value of trees – not just for our planet, but also for communities and people.
Over the years we’ve supported significant tree planting projects in Kenya, Ethiopia, India, and the UK, as well as helped protect hundreds of thousands of hectares of rainforest in Peru. We’ve worked with leading charities such as the Woodland Trust, Oxfam, Groundworks, and the Rainforest Foundation UK. And we’ve seen the role that tree planting can play in enhancing local environments by reducing soil erosion and flooding, and improving water conservation; in combating climate change through carbon sequestration; and supporting families and communities by providing food and income opportunities.
One of the largest schemes we’ve funded was a five-year project in tea-growing regions in and around Mount Kenya. Here we work with The International Small Tea Group Tree Planting Association (TIST) and the Kenyan Tea Development Agency to plant over 4 million trees. The project also supports our carbon neutral business certification.
We’re currently supporting a significant project in Snaizeholme in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. Partnering with the Woodland Trust, our support will help plant up to 50,000 trees and regenerate and restore vital environmental ecosystems including upland peat bog.
To find out more about the history of Trees for Life, just watch our film created in 2020 to celebrate three decades of tree planting.
