FAQ
About Us
Plant-for-the-Planet drives climate action by combining youth empowerment, forest conservation and restoration, and advocacy. These elements are closely connected and reinforce each other to fight the climate crisis and support a liveable future.
We empower children and young people worldwide through climate education, training, and opportunities to take action as Climate Justice Ambassadors. They raise awareness, mobilize others, and advocate for climate solutions, including forest restoration, while leading their own initiatives.
In parallel, we practice the restoration and protection of biodiverse forests with our own projects and act in close collaboration with restoration organizations and local communities. Our work focuses on long-term ecosystem recovery.
To strengthen this work, we develop open-source digital tools that increase transparency and help monitor and scale forest restoration globally. These tools support both restoration organizations on the ground and partners, including donors, who want to understand their impact.
At the same time, we advocate for policies that enable forest conservation and climate justice, because lasting climate action requires both local engagement and systemic change.
Plant-for-the-Planet is a global movement driving climate action that turns local impact into global change. We empower children and youth with education, skills, and opportunities to act. In close collaboration with restoration organizations and local communities we drive the restoration of biodiverse forests and provide digital tools for this purpose. We advocate for policies enabling forest conservation and climate justice.
Plant-for-the-Planet is active globally through a combination of its own entities, a worldwide youth network, and partnerships in forest restoration.
The organization has independent entities in several countries, including Brazil, Czechia, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and USA. All of these are non-profit organizations and have their own programmatic focus. Find out more here.
At the same time, Plant-for-the-Planet has empowered children and youth in more than 76 countries worldwide. Climate Justice Ambassadors are connected through regional clusters, where they receive training, mentorship, access to the global network, and support to take action locally and globally.
In addition, through its restoration platform, Plant-for-the-Planet collaborates with restoration organizations around the world, enabling forest restoration and conservation efforts.
Together, this global network connects local action with international impact.
Plant-for-the-Planet began as a children and youth initiative and has grown into a global movement for climate action. Today, it connects children and youth empowerment, forest restoration and conservation, digital innovation, and advocacy to fight the climate crisis and secure a liveable future on our planet.
Plant-for-the-Planet was founded in 2007 by then nine-year-old Felix Finkbeiner on the idea that children can drive change, starting with the simple idea of planting trees. As the movement grew, its work expanded beyond mobilization and tree planting to include forest restoration efforts and closer collaboration with restoration organizations and local communities worldwide. Throughout this development, children and young people have remained at the center of the movement, gaining climate knowledge, mobilizing others, and developing their own projects as Climate Justice Ambassadors.
Over time, this led to a broader approach to climate action that focuses on restoring and protecting biodiverse forest ecosystems, empowering young people worldwide, and contributing to long-term climate solutions.
Plant-for-the-Planet doesn’t define itself as a tree-planting organization. We drive climate action by combining youth empowerment and forest restoration and conservation.
In restoration, we work with science-based methods to bring back biodiverse forest ecosystems. We share our knowledge and expertise with forest practitioners to strengthen the efforts of the international restoration community.
We work with nature by supporting natural regeneration and planting diverse, native species to create forests that are resilient and can sustain themselves over time. This approach goes beyond short-term tree planting and aims for long-term ecosystem restoration.
In addition, we combine restoration with a global youth movement that gives children a voice in climate negotiations and politics. Children and young people are not only participants, but active drivers of change who raise awareness, lead initiatives, and contribute to climate action worldwide.
We also increase transparency in restoration through open-source digital tools that allow projects to monitor progress and share their impact, and we advocate for forest protection, which is as important as restoration.
Together, these elements shape a holistic approach to forest restoration that focuses on long-term impact, transparency, and global collaboration.
Planting trees alone is not enough. What matters is restoring and protecting resilient, biodiverse forest ecosystems that can grow and regenerate over time. While forest restoration is an important part of the solution, it cannot replace the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and phase out fossil fuels.
Healthy forest ecosystems are necessary to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by storing the carbon in the biomass of the tree, such as the stem, branches, leaves, and roots. Forest ecosystems that can sustain themselves, continue to store carbon and deliver long-term climate benefits, but only alongside rapid emissions reductions.
Other ecosystems, such as moors and grasslands, have great carbon storage potential too, and we appreciate the restoration and protection of these. Plant-for-the-Planet though, focuses solely on the conservation and restoration of forests.
Plant-for-the-Planet supports global forest restoration both through its own projects and by enabling restoration efforts worldwide. We focus on regions where restoration can have the greatest impact for climate and biodiversity. This includes our own projects in countries such as Mexico, Ghana, and Spain. A strong emphasis lies on tropical regions, where forests grow faster, store carbon more quickly, and support high levels of biodiversity.
At the same time, we work with a global network of more than 300 restoration projects on our restoration platform. This connects projects with supporters and enables forest restoration at a much larger scale. All projects follow clear restoration standards to ensure quality, transparency, and long-term impact. We also share knowledge, data, and lessons learned across this network. By continuously improving restoration approaches together, we help make global forest restoration more effective and scalable.
Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation is an independent non-profit foundation based in Germany. The initiative began in 2007 after a school presentation by Felix Finkbeiner inspired children to take climate action and plant trees. In 2011, the initiative was formally established as a foundation by the Finkbeiner family, who in the early years was deeply involved in the management and programming of the Foundation. Since 2023, the Finkbeiner family has gradually stepped down from the foundation’s management, and the foundation has been restructured to operate independently of the family
Today, Plant-for-the-Planet is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of four members, including two full-time and two voluntary representatives. The Board is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of the Foundation. The Board’s work is overseen by an independent Foundation Council, which helps ensure transparency, accountability, and alignment with the Foundation’s mission and values.
In addition, Felix Finkbeiner remains actively involved in the Foundation’s work. Today, he leads the Restoration & Conservation and Policy & Advocacy teams, advancing large-scale forest restoration and international mechanisms to protect tropical forests.
Learn more about our governance structure here.
Forests & Restoration
Plant-for-the-Planet’s restoration work is guided by ecological science and focuses on restoring resilient, biodiverse forest ecosystems. Whenever possible, we rely on natural regeneration, allowing forests to recover on their own. If conditions are right, ecosystems can regenerate naturally and we support this process rather than replacing it. When active restoration is needed, we carefully match tree species to the specific conditions of each site, such as soil, climate, and local disturbances. We only use native species that are adapted to these environments.
A key principle of our work is biodiversity. By planting a wide range of species, we make forests more resilient. Different species respond differently to stresses such as drought or flooding, which reduces the risk of large-scale loss. At the same time, diverse forests create conditions that allow even more species to establish over time. This approach helps restore forests that are not only growing, but are stable, self-sustaining, and able to adapt to changing conditions.
Our team of experts selects tree species based on the specific conditions of each restoration site, using native species that are adapted to the local environment. Rather than planting a single species, we focus on restoring biodiverse forests. By combining different species with complementary characteristics, we create ecosystems that are more resilient to environmental changes such as drought or extreme weather.
Where possible, we also support natural regeneration, allowing additional species to establish over time, increasing biodiversity further. Our restoration work is guided by clear standards that help ensure ecological quality, including the use of native species and the promotion of biodiversity across all projects.
Yes, protecting existing forests is a key part of our work.
We support conservation areas that include mature forests, helping to protect them through measures such as patrols and fire prevention. Protecting these forests is essential, as they already store large amounts of carbon and support rich biodiversity.
We also work to address the main drivers of deforestation in the regions where we are active. This includes supporting more sustainable land-use practices, such as agroforestry and silvopasture, as well as creating alternative livelihood opportunities for local communities.
In addition, we have developed restoration and conservation standards that projects must meet to be part of our restoration platform. We also advocate for policies that strengthen forest protection globally and support long-term conservation efforts.
Restoration success is defined at the project level, as it depends on the specific goals of each project. Some projects aim to restore forests that are as close as possible to natural ecosystems, while others focus on increasing tree cover through approaches such as agroforestry.
In all cases, we monitor progress using indicators that are relevant to these goals. These include ecological indicators such as tree survival and growth, natural regeneration, and changes in canopy cover and overall forest cover.
In addition, we also consider broader impacts. Depending on the project, this can include improvements in local livelihoods, such as increased income or more diverse sources of income for local communities involved. By combining ecological and social indicators, we can better understand whether restoration efforts are leading to healthy, resilient ecosystems that also support people in the long term.
Trees start contributing to climate protection as soon as they begin to grow. As they grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in their biomass.
The rate at which trees capture carbon depends on how much biomass they add each year. This is influenced by factors such as the size of the tree, its growth rate, the density of its wood, and the environmental conditions it grows in. As a result, carbon sequestration varies significantly between species and across different regions.
Peak periods of carbon uptake occur both in rapidly growing young trees and in large, mature trees. While young trees grow quickly, mature trees continue to add substantial amounts of biomass each year through diameter growth simply because of their size. Geography also plays a role: trees in the northern hemisphere pause photosynthesis and carbon capture during winter, whereas trees in tropical regions absorb carbon year-round.
Forest restoration also contributes to climate protection beyond individual trees. Healthy, connected forest ecosystems store carbon not only in vegetation, but also in soils, and are more resilient to environmental changes. Improving connectivity between forest areas helps strengthen these ecosystems and supports long-term carbon storage. Protecting existing forests is therefore just as important as restoring new ones, as their loss would significantly increase atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.
Not all planted trees survive, and this is a natural part of how forests develop. Even under natural conditions, only a portion of young trees grow to maturity. What matters is that a sufficient number of trees establish and grow to form a healthy, stable forest. That is why we monitor restoration sites and track indicators such as survival and growth over time.
If survival rates fall below expectations, restoration approaches are adjusted. This can include improving site preparation, or selecting species that are better suited to local conditions. In cases of major losses, for example due to fire or extreme weather events, affected areas are reassessed and restored again where needed. Our goal is not simply to plant trees, but to restore resilient, biodiverse ecosystems that can recover from disturbances and sustain themselves in the long term.
There are an estimated 3 trillion trees in the world. This estimate is based on global scientific research that combines satellite data and field measurements. However, humans have already significantly reduced the number of trees on Earth. Since the beginning of human civilization, around half of the world’s trees have been lost due to deforestation and land use change.
At the same time, research shows that there is still large potential to restore forests globally. A widely cited study by Bastin et al. (2019) estimates that there is potential to restore up to 1 trillion additional trees on suitable land worldwide. In many cases, forests can recover naturally if conditions are right, meaning that restoration is not only about planting trees, but also about allowing ecosystems to regenerate.
Children & youth
At Plant-for-the-Planet, children and youth empowerment means enabling young people to actively shape climate action. We provide them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to understand the climate crisis and to take action themselves. Empowerment goes beyond climate education by focusing on agency, encouraging young people not only to learn about the challenges, but to become part of the solution.
Our unique strength lies in our peer-to-peer approach. We recognize that children and youth already have the vision and are already taking action on the ground; through our model, they inspire and motivate each other to scale these efforts. By seeing their peers lead, young people gain the confidence to act, proving they are ready to contribute today.
However, while young people are driving change in their communities, they still lack official seats at the table where critical policy decisions are made. We work to bridge this gap, creating spaces where they can be heard, connect with others, and grow into a global movement that demands a voice in the rooms where their future is decided.
Plant-for-the-Planet focuses on empowerment because addressing the climate crisis requires more than knowledge. It requires people who take action.
Traditional education often focuses on understanding problems. Empowerment goes a step further by equipping young people with the skills, confidence, and opportunities to act, lead initiatives, and engage others. Young people are not only affected by the climate crisis, they are also powerful drivers of change. By enabling them to take action early, we encourage children and youth to promote and shape a climate just future.
A Climate Justice Ambassador is a child or young person who has been empowered by Plant-for-the-Planet to take action for climate justice.
After gaining knowledge about the climate crisis in our School Workshops or Academies, ambassadors turn this into action. They raise awareness, give presentations, organize projects, support the restoration and conservation of forests, and advocate for change in their communities and beyond. Climate Justice Ambassadors are part of a global movement of young people from both the Global South and the Global North. Together, they contribute to climate action that connects local impact with global change.
They show that young people are not only affected by the climate crisis, but actively shape solutions and drive change for a climate-just future.
The development of a Climate Justice Ambassador from the first contact with Plant-for-the-Planet to a confident agent of change is what we call the Ambassador Journey. Through our peer-to-peer approach, young people don’t just learn: they motivate and empower one another to lead.
The journey begins by getting involved through Academies or School Workshops, quickly moving into taking action via local campaigns and tree planting. As confidence builds, Ambassadors take a stand by joining conferences to share their stories and advocate publicly.
A vital step occurs when they connect at the Plant-for-the-Planet Children’s Conferences or Youth Summits to empower others, presenting in schools and mentoring peers to create a ripple effect of leadership. This leads to taking responsibility for independent projects and, ultimately, having a voice in decision-making. By joining the Global Ambassador Council and representing youth internationally, they finally claim their seats at the table where decisions are made.
This is not a one-time experience, but an ongoing process of global exchange where young people grow into active members of a worldwide movement and shape climate justice at different levels
Young people are at the core of Plant-for-the-Planet and play an active role in shaping the movement through their ideas, actions, and engagement worldwide. As Climate Justice Ambassadors, they raise awareness, lead projects, support forest restoration, and advocate for climate justice in their communities and beyond. Their experiences and perspectives continuously influence how the movement grows and develops.
Young people are also connected globally through a strong network where they exchange ideas, collaborate across regions, and bring local perspectives into a global context. A key role is played by the Global Ambassador Council, the official youth leadership body of Plant-for-the-Planet. It represents young changemakers from across the world and ensures that the voices of the Ambassador community are heard, strengthening the global youth movement for climate justice and ecosystem restoration.
In addition, some Ambassadors take on long-term roles within the organization, further contributing to its development and impact.
Digital Tools
Plant-for-the-Planet develops digital tools to make forest restoration more transparent, effective, and accessible.
Many restoration organizations, especially smaller and community-led initiatives, face limited resources and lack access to the tools needed to collect data, monitor progress, and demonstrate impact. By providing open-source and free digital solutions, we help lower these barriers and make these tools accessible to all.
At the same time, reliable data is essential for long-term restoration impact. Our tools support better decision-making, improve the quality of restoration work, and help ensure that efforts lead to resilient, lasting ecosystems.
Forest Cloud is Plant-for-the-Planet’s open-source digital infrastructure for forest restoration. It connects restoration projects worldwide with donors and partners, enabling them to document their work, track progress, and share results transparently.
It includes tools such as therestoration platform for transparency and funding,TreeMapper for field monitoring,FireAlert for detecting forest fires,Tracer for supply chain transparency, andTreeGame for education and engagement.
By making restoration data visible and accessible, Forest Cloud helps build trust and enables better decisions, especially for restoration organizations that often lack the resources to manage and share data. It allows projects to demonstrate their impact and access funding more easily. Designed to be free and open, Forest Cloud enables organizations of all sizes, especially smaller and community-led initiatives, to participate in global climate action.
The Plant-for-the-Planet restoration platform connects restoration organizations with individuals, companies, and supporters worldwide to enable transparent and large-scale forest restoration.
For restoration organizations, the platform provides a way to showcase their projects, attract funding, and document their work transparently. They can use free digital tools to monitor progress, share data, and demonstrate their impact, helping them improve their work and build trust with supporters.
For individuals and supporters, the platform makes it easy to explore restoration and conservation projects around the world, support them directly, and follow their impact over time. Users can choose projects, contribute to forest restoration, and track their contributions in their personal account.
The platform includes both Plant-for-the-Planet’s own restoration projects and projects led by independent partner organizations worldwide, bringing together a global network of restoration efforts. By bringing these groups together, the platform creates a shared system where restoration efforts become more visible, accessible, and effective, supporting forest restoration at a global scale.
Any non-profit restoration or conservation project that meets our ecological and socialstandards can join our global community through a simple onboarding process:
- Apply Online: Create an organization profile onpp.eco (see ourSign-Up Guide) and add your project details.
- Review & Guidance: Submit your habitat-specific questionnaire and official documents for evaluation by our Project Review Board.
- Approval & Verification: Once approved offsite, you can start collecting donations and officially join our platform network. To ensure long-term transparency, our reviewers will later conduct an on-site check when visiting your geographic area.
If your project does not meet all standards immediately, you are not alone, many projects need a bit of support! Our team of ecologists provides free, confidentialRestoration Advice to help you optimize your project, address local challenges, and qualify for the platform.
Additionally, as part of our shared commitment to transparency within the community, active projects must provide regular progress updates and spatial tracking data using our free TreeMapper app or an equivalent monitoring report.
No. But through therestoration platform, you can monitor the areas where trees are planted and see how they develop over time. Using satellite imagery and monitoring tools, you can explore restoration areas (“planting polygons”) and track how forests grow and recover. Instead of focusing on individual trees, this approach shows the bigger picture: how entire ecosystems are being restored and the role your contribution plays in it.
In yourpersonal profile, you can view all your contributions across projects worldwide and see the forests you are helping to bring back.
Plant-for-the-Planet’s digital tools are free for restoration organizations so that access to high-quality restoration does not depend on budget. Many restoration projects, especially smaller and community-led initiatives, work with limited resources. By removing financial barriers, we enable them to monitor their work, collect data, and demonstrate their impact.
The costs are covered by partners, companies, and supporters, making it possible to provide these tools where they are needed most. This approach helps scale forest restoration by enabling organizations worldwide to work transparently and effectively.
Transparency
Plant-for-the-Planet ensures transparency by making restoration progress visible and traceable. When you donate for trees, you choose a specific project and restoration area. You receive a tree certificate with access to your personal profile, where you can see in which region your trees are being planted.
Tree planting is carefully planned and does not always happen immediately. Restoration follows ecological conditions such as seasons, rainfall, and site preparation to ensure the best possible survival and long-term impact. Progress is documented through our digital tools and restoration platform, where restoration areas can be monitored over time. In addition, our transparency reports provide detailed information on restoration activities, including how many trees have been planted and where.
Yes, Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation publishes transparency reports annually to ensure transparency and accountability. These reports include both information about our activities and our financial reporting. Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation is a signatory to the Transparent Civil Society Initiative (Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft), a German transparency initiative for civil society organizations that promotes transparency and accountability.
You can find detailed information about our work and access all reports on ourtransparency page.
Support & Donations
There are several ways to support Plant-for-the-Planet and contribute to climate action:
Support our work with a donation: With a one-time or regular donation, you help empower children and youth, strengthen global forest restoration and protection, and support the development of tools and partnerships that enable long-term climate action.
Support forest restoration: Through our restoration platform, you can donate trees and support forest restoration projects around the world and follow your contribution over time in your profile.
Make a direct donation:
Sozialbank, Munich
IBAN: DE13 7002 0500 0000 200 000
BIC/SWIFT: BFSWDE33MUE
You can also explore other ways to support us, such as fundraiser, legacy giving, or supporting membership, here.
Yes. For donations, you receive a personalized certificate that represents your contribution and its impact. For recurring donations, certificates are not issued automatically each time.
You can also choose to dedicate your donation to someone else, making it a meaningful gift that combines personal appreciation with climate action.
Yes, you can dedicate your donation to someone and give it as a meaningful gift. When donating through the online donation form, you can choose to dedicate your donation and receive a certificate via email to share with the recipient.
You can manage your donations and personal information in your personal account, which you can access via the login area in the upper right corner. There, you can update your personal information, adjust your donation, download your tax receipts, and view the impact of your support.
To change your payment details or payment method, you can contact the team by email at [email protected] or by phone at +49 8808 9345. If you experience issues with login or password reset, please check that you are registered with the correct email address or contact the team for support.
Yes, donations to Plant-for-the-Planet are tax-deductible, and we issue official tax receipts for your donation. For donations up to 300 euros, a bank statement is usually sufficient for tax purposes, depending on local regulations.
You will automatically receive your tax receipt by email in the first quarter of the following year. You can also download your current and past tax receipts at any time from your personal profile. If needed, we can also send you a copy by email: please contact us at [email protected].
Yes, you can choose how your donation is used. You can donate to Plant-for-the-Planet restoration projects in Ghana, Mexico, or Spain. Additionally, through our restoration platform, you can specifically support global forest restoration and donate trees to partner projects worldwide. You can also choose to support our empowerment work, helping children and young people engage in climate action and work towards a liveable future, here.
At the same time, unrestricted, non-earmarked, donations are often the most effective, because they allow us to use funds where they are most needed and can have the greatest impact. They support our overall work, including youth empowerment, forest restoration and conservation, the development of digital tools, advocacy, and other essential areas. By enabling this flexibility, unrestricted donations help us connect local action with global impact and drive the systemic change needed to fight the climate crisis and help secure a liveable future on our planet.
Plant-for-the-Planet drives climate action by combining youth empowerment, forest conservation and restoration, and advocacy. These elements are closely connected and reinforce each other to fight the climate crisis and support a liveable future.
We empower children and young people worldwide through climate education, training, and opportunities to take action as Climate Justice Ambassadors. They raise awareness, mobilize others, and advocate for climate solutions, including forest restoration, while leading their own initiatives.
In parallel, we practice the restoration and protection of biodiverse forests with our own projects and act in close collaboration with restoration organizations and local communities. Our work focuses on long-term ecosystem recovery.
To strengthen this work, we develop open-source digital tools that increase transparency and help monitor and scale forest restoration globally. These tools support both restoration organizations on the ground and partners, including donors, who want to understand their impact.
At the same time, we advocate for policies that enable forest conservation and climate justice, because lasting climate action requires both local engagement and systemic change.
Plant-for-the-Planet is a global movement driving climate action that turns local impact into global change. We empower children and youth with education, skills, and opportunities to act. In close collaboration with restoration organizations and local communities we drive the restoration of biodiverse forests and provide digital tools for this purpose. We advocate for policies enabling forest conservation and climate justice.
Plant-for-the-Planet is active globally through a combination of its own entities, a worldwide youth network, and partnerships in forest restoration.
The organization has independent entities in several countries, including Brazil, Czechia, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and USA. All of these are non-profit organizations and have their own programmatic focus. Find out more here.
At the same time, Plant-for-the-Planet has empowered children and youth in more than 76 countries worldwide. Climate Justice Ambassadors are connected through regional clusters, where they receive training, mentorship, access to the global network, and support to take action locally and globally.
In addition, through its restoration platform, Plant-for-the-Planet collaborates with restoration organizations around the world, enabling forest restoration and conservation efforts.
Together, this global network connects local action with international impact.
Plant-for-the-Planet began as a children and youth initiative and has grown into a global movement for climate action. Today, it connects children and youth empowerment, forest restoration and conservation, digital innovation, and advocacy to fight the climate crisis and secure a liveable future on our planet.
Plant-for-the-Planet was founded in 2007 by then nine-year-old Felix Finkbeiner on the idea that children can drive change, starting with the simple idea of planting trees. As the movement grew, its work expanded beyond mobilization and tree planting to include forest restoration efforts and closer collaboration with restoration organizations and local communities worldwide. Throughout this development, children and young people have remained at the center of the movement, gaining climate knowledge, mobilizing others, and developing their own projects as Climate Justice Ambassadors.
Over time, this led to a broader approach to climate action that focuses on restoring and protecting biodiverse forest ecosystems, empowering young people worldwide, and contributing to long-term climate solutions.
Plant-for-the-Planet doesn’t define itself as a tree-planting organization. We drive climate action by combining youth empowerment and forest restoration and conservation.
In restoration, we work with science-based methods to bring back biodiverse forest ecosystems. We share our knowledge and expertise with forest practitioners to strengthen the efforts of the international restoration community.
We work with nature by supporting natural regeneration and planting diverse, native species to create forests that are resilient and can sustain themselves over time. This approach goes beyond short-term tree planting and aims for long-term ecosystem restoration.
In addition, we combine restoration with a global youth movement that gives children a voice in climate negotiations and politics. Children and young people are not only participants, but active drivers of change who raise awareness, lead initiatives, and contribute to climate action worldwide.
We also increase transparency in restoration through open-source digital tools that allow projects to monitor progress and share their impact, and we advocate for forest protection, which is as important as restoration.
Together, these elements shape a holistic approach to forest restoration that focuses on long-term impact, transparency, and global collaboration.
Planting trees alone is not enough. What matters is restoring and protecting resilient, biodiverse forest ecosystems that can grow and regenerate over time. While forest restoration is an important part of the solution, it cannot replace the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and phase out fossil fuels.
Healthy forest ecosystems are necessary to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by storing the carbon in the biomass of the tree, such as the stem, branches, leaves, and roots. Forest ecosystems that can sustain themselves, continue to store carbon and deliver long-term climate benefits, but only alongside rapid emissions reductions.
Other ecosystems, such as moors and grasslands, have great carbon storage potential too, and we appreciate the restoration and protection of these. Plant-for-the-Planet though, focuses solely on the conservation and restoration of forests.
Plant-for-the-Planet supports global forest restoration both through its own projects and by enabling restoration efforts worldwide. We focus on regions where restoration can have the greatest impact for climate and biodiversity. This includes our own projects in countries such as Mexico, Ghana, and Spain. A strong emphasis lies on tropical regions, where forests grow faster, store carbon more quickly, and support high levels of biodiversity.
At the same time, we work with a global network of more than 300 restoration projects on our restoration platform. This connects projects with supporters and enables forest restoration at a much larger scale. All projects follow clear restoration standards to ensure quality, transparency, and long-term impact. We also share knowledge, data, and lessons learned across this network. By continuously improving restoration approaches together, we help make global forest restoration more effective and scalable.
Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation is an independent non-profit foundation based in Germany. The initiative began in 2007 after a school presentation by Felix Finkbeiner inspired children to take climate action and plant trees. In 2011, the initiative was formally established as a foundation by the Finkbeiner family, who in the early years was deeply involved in the management and programming of the Foundation. Since 2023, the Finkbeiner family has gradually stepped down from the foundation’s management, and the foundation has been restructured to operate independently of the family
Today, Plant-for-the-Planet is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of four members, including two full-time and two voluntary representatives. The Board is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of the Foundation. The Board’s work is overseen by an independent Foundation Council, which helps ensure transparency, accountability, and alignment with the Foundation’s mission and values.
In addition, Felix Finkbeiner remains actively involved in the Foundation’s work. Today, he leads the Restoration & Conservation and Policy & Advocacy teams, advancing large-scale forest restoration and international mechanisms to protect tropical forests.
Learn more about our governance structure here.
Plant-for-the-Planet’s restoration work is guided by ecological science and focuses on restoring resilient, biodiverse forest ecosystems. Whenever possible, we rely on natural regeneration, allowing forests to recover on their own. If conditions are right, ecosystems can regenerate naturally and we support this process rather than replacing it. When active restoration is needed, we carefully match tree species to the specific conditions of each site, such as soil, climate, and local disturbances. We only use native species that are adapted to these environments.
A key principle of our work is biodiversity. By planting a wide range of species, we make forests more resilient. Different species respond differently to stresses such as drought or flooding, which reduces the risk of large-scale loss. At the same time, diverse forests create conditions that allow even more species to establish over time. This approach helps restore forests that are not only growing, but are stable, self-sustaining, and able to adapt to changing conditions.
Our team of experts selects tree species based on the specific conditions of each restoration site, using native species that are adapted to the local environment. Rather than planting a single species, we focus on restoring biodiverse forests. By combining different species with complementary characteristics, we create ecosystems that are more resilient to environmental changes such as drought or extreme weather.
Where possible, we also support natural regeneration, allowing additional species to establish over time, increasing biodiversity further. Our restoration work is guided by clear standards that help ensure ecological quality, including the use of native species and the promotion of biodiversity across all projects.
Yes, protecting existing forests is a key part of our work.
We support conservation areas that include mature forests, helping to protect them through measures such as patrols and fire prevention. Protecting these forests is essential, as they already store large amounts of carbon and support rich biodiversity.
We also work to address the main drivers of deforestation in the regions where we are active. This includes supporting more sustainable land-use practices, such as agroforestry and silvopasture, as well as creating alternative livelihood opportunities for local communities.
In addition, we have developed restoration and conservation standards that projects must meet to be part of our restoration platform. We also advocate for policies that strengthen forest protection globally and support long-term conservation efforts.
Restoration success is defined at the project level, as it depends on the specific goals of each project. Some projects aim to restore forests that are as close as possible to natural ecosystems, while others focus on increasing tree cover through approaches such as agroforestry.
In all cases, we monitor progress using indicators that are relevant to these goals. These include ecological indicators such as tree survival and growth, natural regeneration, and changes in canopy cover and overall forest cover.
In addition, we also consider broader impacts. Depending on the project, this can include improvements in local livelihoods, such as increased income or more diverse sources of income for local communities involved. By combining ecological and social indicators, we can better understand whether restoration efforts are leading to healthy, resilient ecosystems that also support people in the long term.
Trees start contributing to climate protection as soon as they begin to grow. As they grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in their biomass.
The rate at which trees capture carbon depends on how much biomass they add each year. This is influenced by factors such as the size of the tree, its growth rate, the density of its wood, and the environmental conditions it grows in. As a result, carbon sequestration varies significantly between species and across different regions.
Peak periods of carbon uptake occur both in rapidly growing young trees and in large, mature trees. While young trees grow quickly, mature trees continue to add substantial amounts of biomass each year through diameter growth simply because of their size. Geography also plays a role: trees in the northern hemisphere pause photosynthesis and carbon capture during winter, whereas trees in tropical regions absorb carbon year-round.
Forest restoration also contributes to climate protection beyond individual trees. Healthy, connected forest ecosystems store carbon not only in vegetation, but also in soils, and are more resilient to environmental changes. Improving connectivity between forest areas helps strengthen these ecosystems and supports long-term carbon storage. Protecting existing forests is therefore just as important as restoring new ones, as their loss would significantly increase atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.
Not all planted trees survive, and this is a natural part of how forests develop. Even under natural conditions, only a portion of young trees grow to maturity. What matters is that a sufficient number of trees establish and grow to form a healthy, stable forest. That is why we monitor restoration sites and track indicators such as survival and growth over time.
If survival rates fall below expectations, restoration approaches are adjusted. This can include improving site preparation, or selecting species that are better suited to local conditions. In cases of major losses, for example due to fire or extreme weather events, affected areas are reassessed and restored again where needed. Our goal is not simply to plant trees, but to restore resilient, biodiverse ecosystems that can recover from disturbances and sustain themselves in the long term.
There are an estimated 3 trillion trees in the world. This estimate is based on global scientific research that combines satellite data and field measurements. However, humans have already significantly reduced the number of trees on Earth. Since the beginning of human civilization, around half of the world’s trees have been lost due to deforestation and land use change.
At the same time, research shows that there is still large potential to restore forests globally. A widely cited study by Bastin et al. (2019) estimates that there is potential to restore up to 1 trillion additional trees on suitable land worldwide. In many cases, forests can recover naturally if conditions are right, meaning that restoration is not only about planting trees, but also about allowing ecosystems to regenerate.
At Plant-for-the-Planet, children and youth empowerment means enabling young people to actively shape climate action. We provide them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to understand the climate crisis and to take action themselves. Empowerment goes beyond climate education by focusing on agency, encouraging young people not only to learn about the challenges, but to become part of the solution.
Our unique strength lies in our peer-to-peer approach. We recognize that children and youth already have the vision and are already taking action on the ground; through our model, they inspire and motivate each other to scale these efforts. By seeing their peers lead, young people gain the confidence to act, proving they are ready to contribute today.
However, while young people are driving change in their communities, they still lack official seats at the table where critical policy decisions are made. We work to bridge this gap, creating spaces where they can be heard, connect with others, and grow into a global movement that demands a voice in the rooms where their future is decided.
Plant-for-the-Planet focuses on empowerment because addressing the climate crisis requires more than knowledge. It requires people who take action.
Traditional education often focuses on understanding problems. Empowerment goes a step further by equipping young people with the skills, confidence, and opportunities to act, lead initiatives, and engage others. Young people are not only affected by the climate crisis, they are also powerful drivers of change. By enabling them to take action early, we encourage children and youth to promote and shape a climate just future.
A Climate Justice Ambassador is a child or young person who has been empowered by Plant-for-the-Planet to take action for climate justice.
After gaining knowledge about the climate crisis in our School Workshops or Academies, ambassadors turn this into action. They raise awareness, give presentations, organize projects, support the restoration and conservation of forests, and advocate for change in their communities and beyond. Climate Justice Ambassadors are part of a global movement of young people from both the Global South and the Global North. Together, they contribute to climate action that connects local impact with global change.
They show that young people are not only affected by the climate crisis, but actively shape solutions and drive change for a climate-just future.
The development of a Climate Justice Ambassador from the first contact with Plant-for-the-Planet to a confident agent of change is what we call the Ambassador Journey. Through our peer-to-peer approach, young people don’t just learn: they motivate and empower one another to lead.
The journey begins by getting involved through Academies or School Workshops, quickly moving into taking action via local campaigns and tree planting. As confidence builds, Ambassadors take a stand by joining conferences to share their stories and advocate publicly.
A vital step occurs when they connect at the Plant-for-the-Planet Children’s Conferences or Youth Summits to empower others, presenting in schools and mentoring peers to create a ripple effect of leadership. This leads to taking responsibility for independent projects and, ultimately, having a voice in decision-making. By joining the Global Ambassador Council and representing youth internationally, they finally claim their seats at the table where decisions are made.
This is not a one-time experience, but an ongoing process of global exchange where young people grow into active members of a worldwide movement and shape climate justice at different levels
Young people are at the core of Plant-for-the-Planet and play an active role in shaping the movement through their ideas, actions, and engagement worldwide. As Climate Justice Ambassadors, they raise awareness, lead projects, support forest restoration, and advocate for climate justice in their communities and beyond. Their experiences and perspectives continuously influence how the movement grows and develops.
Young people are also connected globally through a strong network where they exchange ideas, collaborate across regions, and bring local perspectives into a global context. A key role is played by the Global Ambassador Council, the official youth leadership body of Plant-for-the-Planet. It represents young changemakers from across the world and ensures that the voices of the Ambassador community are heard, strengthening the global youth movement for climate justice and ecosystem restoration.
In addition, some Ambassadors take on long-term roles within the organization, further contributing to its development and impact.
Plant-for-the-Planet develops digital tools to make forest restoration more transparent, effective, and accessible.
Many restoration organizations, especially smaller and community-led initiatives, face limited resources and lack access to the tools needed to collect data, monitor progress, and demonstrate impact. By providing open-source and free digital solutions, we help lower these barriers and make these tools accessible to all.
At the same time, reliable data is essential for long-term restoration impact. Our tools support better decision-making, improve the quality of restoration work, and help ensure that efforts lead to resilient, lasting ecosystems.
Forest Cloud is Plant-for-the-Planet’s open-source digital infrastructure for forest restoration. It connects restoration projects worldwide with donors and partners, enabling them to document their work, track progress, and share results transparently.
It includes tools such as therestoration platform for transparency and funding,TreeMapper for field monitoring,FireAlert for detecting forest fires,Tracer for supply chain transparency, andTreeGame for education and engagement.
By making restoration data visible and accessible, Forest Cloud helps build trust and enables better decisions, especially for restoration organizations that often lack the resources to manage and share data. It allows projects to demonstrate their impact and access funding more easily. Designed to be free and open, Forest Cloud enables organizations of all sizes, especially smaller and community-led initiatives, to participate in global climate action.
The Plant-for-the-Planet restoration platform connects restoration organizations with individuals, companies, and supporters worldwide to enable transparent and large-scale forest restoration.
For restoration organizations, the platform provides a way to showcase their projects, attract funding, and document their work transparently. They can use free digital tools to monitor progress, share data, and demonstrate their impact, helping them improve their work and build trust with supporters.
For individuals and supporters, the platform makes it easy to explore restoration and conservation projects around the world, support them directly, and follow their impact over time. Users can choose projects, contribute to forest restoration, and track their contributions in their personal account.
The platform includes both Plant-for-the-Planet’s own restoration projects and projects led by independent partner organizations worldwide, bringing together a global network of restoration efforts. By bringing these groups together, the platform creates a shared system where restoration efforts become more visible, accessible, and effective, supporting forest restoration at a global scale.
Any non-profit restoration or conservation project that meets our ecological and socialstandards can join our global community through a simple onboarding process:
- Apply Online: Create an organization profile onpp.eco (see ourSign-Up Guide) and add your project details.
- Review & Guidance: Submit your habitat-specific questionnaire and official documents for evaluation by our Project Review Board.
- Approval & Verification: Once approved offsite, you can start collecting donations and officially join our platform network. To ensure long-term transparency, our reviewers will later conduct an on-site check when visiting your geographic area.
If your project does not meet all standards immediately, you are not alone, many projects need a bit of support! Our team of ecologists provides free, confidentialRestoration Advice to help you optimize your project, address local challenges, and qualify for the platform.
Additionally, as part of our shared commitment to transparency within the community, active projects must provide regular progress updates and spatial tracking data using our free TreeMapper app or an equivalent monitoring report.
No. But through therestoration platform, you can monitor the areas where trees are planted and see how they develop over time. Using satellite imagery and monitoring tools, you can explore restoration areas (“planting polygons”) and track how forests grow and recover. Instead of focusing on individual trees, this approach shows the bigger picture: how entire ecosystems are being restored and the role your contribution plays in it.
In yourpersonal profile, you can view all your contributions across projects worldwide and see the forests you are helping to bring back.
Plant-for-the-Planet’s digital tools are free for restoration organizations so that access to high-quality restoration does not depend on budget. Many restoration projects, especially smaller and community-led initiatives, work with limited resources. By removing financial barriers, we enable them to monitor their work, collect data, and demonstrate their impact.
The costs are covered by partners, companies, and supporters, making it possible to provide these tools where they are needed most. This approach helps scale forest restoration by enabling organizations worldwide to work transparently and effectively.
Plant-for-the-Planet ensures transparency by making restoration progress visible and traceable. When you donate for trees, you choose a specific project and restoration area. You receive a tree certificate with access to your personal profile, where you can see in which region your trees are being planted.
Tree planting is carefully planned and does not always happen immediately. Restoration follows ecological conditions such as seasons, rainfall, and site preparation to ensure the best possible survival and long-term impact. Progress is documented through our digital tools and restoration platform, where restoration areas can be monitored over time. In addition, our transparency reports provide detailed information on restoration activities, including how many trees have been planted and where.
Yes, Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation publishes transparency reports annually to ensure transparency and accountability. These reports include both information about our activities and our financial reporting. Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation is a signatory to the Transparent Civil Society Initiative (Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft), a German transparency initiative for civil society organizations that promotes transparency and accountability.
You can find detailed information about our work and access all reports on ourtransparency page.
There are several ways to support Plant-for-the-Planet and contribute to climate action:
Support our work with a donation: With a one-time or regular donation, you help empower children and youth, strengthen global forest restoration and protection, and support the development of tools and partnerships that enable long-term climate action.
Support forest restoration: Through our restoration platform, you can donate trees and support forest restoration projects around the world and follow your contribution over time in your profile.
Make a direct donation:
Sozialbank, Munich
IBAN: DE13 7002 0500 0000 200 000
BIC/SWIFT: BFSWDE33MUE
You can also explore other ways to support us, such as fundraiser, legacy giving, or supporting membership, here.
Yes. For donations, you receive a personalized certificate that represents your contribution and its impact. For recurring donations, certificates are not issued automatically each time.
You can also choose to dedicate your donation to someone else, making it a meaningful gift that combines personal appreciation with climate action.
Yes, you can dedicate your donation to someone and give it as a meaningful gift. When donating through the online donation form, you can choose to dedicate your donation and receive a certificate via email to share with the recipient.
You can manage your donations and personal information in your personal account, which you can access via the login area in the upper right corner. There, you can update your personal information, adjust your donation, download your tax receipts, and view the impact of your support.
To change your payment details or payment method, you can contact the team by email at [email protected] or by phone at +49 8808 9345. If you experience issues with login or password reset, please check that you are registered with the correct email address or contact the team for support.
Yes, donations to Plant-for-the-Planet are tax-deductible, and we issue official tax receipts for your donation. For donations up to 300 euros, a bank statement is usually sufficient for tax purposes, depending on local regulations.
You will automatically receive your tax receipt by email in the first quarter of the following year. You can also download your current and past tax receipts at any time from your personal profile. If needed, we can also send you a copy by email: please contact us at [email protected].
Yes, you can choose how your donation is used. You can donate to Plant-for-the-Planet restoration projects in Ghana, Mexico, or Spain. Additionally, through our restoration platform, you can specifically support global forest restoration and donate trees to partner projects worldwide. You can also choose to support our empowerment work, helping children and young people engage in climate action and work towards a liveable future, here.
At the same time, unrestricted, non-earmarked, donations are often the most effective, because they allow us to use funds where they are most needed and can have the greatest impact. They support our overall work, including youth empowerment, forest restoration and conservation, the development of digital tools, advocacy, and other essential areas. By enabling this flexibility, unrestricted donations help us connect local action with global impact and drive the systemic change needed to fight the climate crisis and help secure a liveable future on our planet.
