”One product bought, one tree planted!” Over the last 15 years, many brands started offering consumers a way to ease the guilt of their materialistic impulses through the promise of reforestation – think of search engine Ecosia or fashion brand Faguo. Forests have become a trendy solution,  and many startups now imply they can turn ecology into a profitable business.

But how sustainable is this model? Splann!, a French investigative media outlet, recently exposed the ecological limits of Eco Tree – a praised French startup positioning itself as a key contributor to the EU Pledge made in 2021, gaging to plant at least three billion additional trees by 2030. Eco Tree allows companies to offset carbon emissions and offers individuals the opportunity to buy trees or plots of forest across Europe.

But Splann! journalists' findings tell a different story. They've revealed how in Eco Tree plantations in Brittany, monoculture-dominated plots and the use of non-native tree species have damaged local ecosystems. Some projects even bypassed regulations, prioritising commercial growth over ecological integrity. This shows that planting a tree is never a magical solution for restoring nature.