Ecorand is a non profit organisation (association registered in Austria), therefore we aim to forward >85% of your donation to the projects. The rest is invested in maintaining the infrastructure and into fundraising.

Our reforestation partners only use native trees. In other words, invasive species are not being used. Depending on the project goal it is also possible that species helping to fight hunger are being used (crops). It is important to mention that we focus on additionality! We plant new trees which would not be planted without your donation.

Our reforestation partners operate in 10 countries on 280 different project sites. Our strategy is to distribute the funds to all sites, as climate change affects the whole planet.

From an effectivity point of view best is to plant trees in developing countries (instead of planting them in the US, Europe …). For the same donation you can plant more trees in developing countries becuase of lower prices for seedlings, land and wages.

At the moment there are ongoing projects in: Haiti, Central America, Philippines, Madagascar, Kenya, Indonesia, Nepal, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Austria, Germany, Spain, Italy, Europe.

In our climate action shop you can select the option to plant trees also in Austria, Germany, Europe.

The vast majority of the trees at our sites are owned by the local communities who actively participated in restoring their regional forest during their employment period with us. The common but much smaller exception is when agroforestry trees are planted at small plot farmer sites where the land is owned by the local farmer. In such cases, the small plot farmer owns the trees along with the proceeds from the trees.

We make every effort to ensure the forest we plant becomes permanent and sustainable. Towards this endour reforestation partners have implemented the following steps:

• We work carefully with all levels of the government to secure written agreements designating the restoration sites as protected in perpetuity.
• We do not plant in logging areas. There is never a 100% guarantee that some form of illegal harvest will not occur. However, we do everything within legal limits to ensure the restoration sites are guaranteed to stand in perpetuity.
• We hire locals to plant the trees. In this way, we alleviate extreme poverty within the impacted community. The community members now have an economic incentive to ensure the well-being of the restoration project. They also have a sense of “ownership” over the trees and restored forest, and they protect it with great care.
• We plant agroforestry species (fruit, fodder, and construction species designed to provide food security and benefit legitimate human needs). Over time these trees become a source of sustainable income.
• We do all possible to supply the locals with alternative fuel sources (fuel-efficient dry wood stoves and solar parabolic stoves), which reduces and/or eliminates their dependence on charcoal.
• We hire forest guards as part of the labor force. We have recently created a Forest Guard Endowment Fund for long-term guarding and protection of our sites.

You can pay at the checkout of our compensation shop by wire transfer, credit card and by crypto payment.

Trees are a great way to absorb carbon emissions. Depending on species, climate conditions and location trees can absorb between 15 and 150 kg of CO2 during a lifetime of 20 years. When calculating the CO2 estimation we always calculate with 25kg and 20 years lifetime per tree (1t of CO2 = 40 trees as per our estimation). Knowing that most trees have a far longer live and most species have a higher capacity for carbon absorbtion, we see our estimation on the save side.

Nevertheless it is to mention that the best way is to avoid CO2. Planting trees is a way of compensating emissions you can not avoid. We are not selling what others call “carbon credits” arising from different sources, we plant trees!

Yes, carbon credits (e.g. GoldStandard) are being sold in our shop. Please take a closer look on our compensation products, it is clearly stated if carbon credits are available. For most donations we use your donation to plant additional trees. “Additional” means, that we are talking about newly projected reforestation. Carbon credits are only as good as the projects involved and the institutions verifying it.

We are doing estimations on how much CO2 will be absorbed by the tree you plant. The caluclation is easy, we calculate with a 25kg CO2 lifetime absorbtion per tree.

1st: analyze your CO2 footprint!

2nd: reduce where you can!

3rd: adapt your lifestyle or your business model!

4th: compensate the rest with projects (additionality!) e.g. with ecorand.

5th: start the process again until you do not need ecorand anymore!

Compensation is senseful whenever you compensate with additional projects, best whenever local population is involved and getting fair wages (preserving woods in a high society hunting ground is not senseful!)