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Planting Trees Around the World With AstraZeneca

by Meaghan Weeden ● June 29, 2023 ● 4 min read

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Industry-leading Commitment to Growing A Greener Future

In January 2020, AstraZeneca announced its AZ Forest Program in partnership with One Tree Planted, setting the goal to plant 50 million trees by 2025 worldwide, On Wednesday, they significantly increased their commitment, announcing that they will invest $400 million to plant over 200 million trees with a range of NGOs as part of their overall strategy to reduce their carbon footprint, in line with the Paris Agreement.

We are proud to work together with AstraZeneca to fulfill their industry-leading commitment to fostering a greener future. Since that first commitment in 2020, we have been working to plant over 35 million trees for the AZ Forest Program across the great southern landscapes of Australia, along the Citarum River watershed in Indonesia, and in the wild heart of Scotland.

In addition to the AZ Forest Program, their employees have been making an impact. A local US chapter of AstraZeneca planted 75,070 trees in Maryland to help improve water quality in the Chesapeake bay. And in Guatemala, their employer matched employee giving program is supporting a project that focuses on regenerative agroforestry for communities. In addition, 170 of AstraZeneca’s employees have planted over 3,000 trees at 10 team events across Canada and the United States.

The Three Projects That Are Planting Trees for the AZ Forest Program

1. Australia - 25M Trees Across Great Southern Landscapes

The project aims to establish 25 million biodiverse and locally appropriate trees across southern Australia by 2025. Partnering with Greening Australia, the project works to support threatened species and improve habitat connectivity, supporting Australia’s recovery following the devastation of the Black Summer bushfires. The project has established AZ sites across West Australia’s Wheatbelt and Gondwana Link, Habitat 141 program area (Victoria and South Australia), Gippsland Plains in Victoria, South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula and the Tasmanian Midlands.

Our on the ground partner, Greening Australia, partnered with 29 landholders, Traditional Owners and local businesses to design and deliver biodiverse plantings that were appropriate to the regions, using diverse seed mixes and seedlings from 263 plant species. Some of the species that benefited from the increased vegetation connectivity and habitat restoration are the Endangered Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo and Greater Gliders.

To date, the project has planted 4,045,937 trees, reforesting over 3,400 hectares while providing socio-economic benefits to local communities. In addition, two sites in South Australia and two in Western Australia are registered carbon sites, which are estimated to generate approximately 183,889 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) gross over a 25-year period.

2. Indonesia - 10M Trees in Citarum River Watershed

The project aims to plant 10 million trees by 2025 in the Citarum River watershed in West Java, Indonesia. This project supports the rehabilitation of the polluted watershed while working with local farmers to transition to more sustainable livelihoods through agroforestry.

Trees4Trees, One Tree Planted’s local planting partner, takes a holistic approach to reforesting the area in partnership with local communities, providing materials and consultation on agroforestry methods to maximize the benefits to the individual farmers.

To date, 4,318,717 trees have been planted and a total of 12,700 local farmers are engaged in tree planting partnerships, bringing the total farmer participation to over 20,000. In addition, just in 2022 the project employed 927 people and trained over 4000 people in management, technical skills, community engagement, organic fertilizer and bio-pesticide production.

Some of the ecological benefits expected from this project are soil stabilization, improved water and soil quality, and increased habitat and food for local wildlife. Ongoing monitoring will assist in identifying how the project activities are benefitting the Critically Endangered Slow Loris and the Endangered Javan Leopard.

3. Scotland - Restoring the Wild Heart of Southern Scotland

This project focuses on native woodland restoration, planting trees within two of our on the ground partner, Borders Forest Trust’s, Wild Heart sites: Corehead & the Devil’s Beef Tub and Talla & Gameshope.

These two sites are managed collectively under the Reviving the Wild Heart of Southern Scotland initiative, which aims to restore lost habitats to this denuded landscape for the benefit of people and wildlife.

To date, 100,050 trees have been planted across this landscape, with a goal of planting 221,200 trees by 2025. The species planted include oak, downy birch, aspen, alder, blackthorn, hazel, eared willow, downy willow and dwarf birch.

In addition to planting trees, ecological training was provided to planting contractors for mountain woodland planting areas to ensure they know what habitats to plant on and what habitats, in particular those with peat, to avoid and leave unplanted.

Learn More About Our Indonesia Project

Working Together to Make a Lasting Impact

Through these tree planting projects, AstraZeneca has already made a profound impact for nature and communities, but our work together is far from done. In addition to monitoring the impact of the trees that have already been planted, we will be working closely with AstraZeneca and our local planting partners to continue to plant trees in these critical project locations.

One Tree Planted commends AstraZeneca for the powerful commitment they have made to reforestation as part of their efforts to reduce carbon emissions. We look forward to the continued success of our long-term partnership as we plant millions of trees over the next five years and beyond.

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Meaghan Weeden

Meaghan works to share our story far and wide, manages our blog calendar, coordinates with the team on projects + campaigns, and ensures our brand voice is reflected across channels. With a background in communications and an education in environmental conservation, she is passionate about leveraging her creativity to help the environment!