Pledge by Salesforce
Mobilizing and Supporting the Conservation, Restoration, and Growth of 100 Million Trees
Total Trees Pledged: 100,000,000At Salesforce, we believe business is one of the greatest platforms for change. We are committed to doing everything we can to step up to the urgent challenge of climate change and creating a sustainable, low-carbon future for all. That means reducing emissions, as well as protecting and improving carbon sinks like forests.
Forests, which are critical to the health of our planet, covered about half the earth before the agricultural revolution began. In the 8,000 years since, while we’ve managed to feed and house billions of people, we’ve also lost or degraded half of those forests, fueling a biodiversity collapse and the climate crisis. It’s time we stop taking from our natural ecosystems, and start giving back.
In January, as a founding partner of 1t.org, and in support of its mission, Salesforce announced our goal to support and mobilize the conservation, restoration, and growth of 100 million trees by the end of 2030. We do so for humans and other life on this planet, to help mitigate climate change, to improve livelihoods, and so much more.
Reaching this goal means tapping into the full power of Salesforce, including our technology, capital, and influence. It also means refining our programs and methodology over time by sharing with and learning from others. At the same time, we know there’s no time to waste. That’s why in the 8 months since we announced this goal we’ve:
• Used Salesforce technology to find ecopreneurs solving the trillion tree challenge with Uplink—a new, global digital platform to crowdsource innovations that accelerate the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• Invested directly in forests around the world. An activity that builds upon our ongoing support to restore mangrove forests in Myanmar, conserve tropical forests in Brazil, and protect peat-lands in Indonesia, via the purchase of carbon credits.
• Advocated for policies that protect and restore nature.
Salesforce’s tree journey is just starting, and we already know it isn’t enough. We hope to catalyze change on a much bigger scale by demonstrating, enabling, and advocating for it. As we work to meet our goals and set the wold on a more just path, we encourage every company, every community, and every person to join us. Together is the only way we can meet the challenges of this moment and leave a better planet for future generations.
Some initial partners include American Forests, Arbor Day Foundation, and National Forest Foundation.
While our program is young, over its life we expect to touch on many of these supporting activities
Guiding our work are the four principles below. We encourage others to join us and the 82+ civil society experts supporting these principles at Together with Nature
1. CUT EMISSIONS - Nature-Based Solutions are powerful tools to capture carbon from the atmosphere, but they are not a substitute for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. In this climate emergency, we need to do many things at once, which means rapidly cutting fossil fuel emissions, decarbonizing our economy and also maintaining, sustainably manage, and restoring ecosystems.
2. CONSERVE & PROTECT EXISTING ECOSYSTEMS - Intact soils, forests, grasslands, shrublands, wetlands and aquatic ecosystems are vital repositories of carbon and biodiversity. Yet we are losing them at an alarming rate. Protecting these last remaining strongholds of nature is critical.
3. BE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE - We must fully engage Indigenous peoples and local communities and respect and uphold their rights and leadership. We must also proactively contribute to fair and sustainable economic models that create new employment opportunities while avoiding competition with existing activities such as food production. Only when local communities benefit from the social, economic and ecological benefits that ecosystems provide can restoration be sustainable.
4. BE ECOLOGICALLY RESPONSIBLE - Nature-Based Solutions must be founded on rigorous ecological principles. Biodiversity is vital for healthy ecosystems which are more productive, resilient and beneficial. Diverse mixtures of native species are most likely to provide desired benefits such as carbon storage, food production, and protection from floods, drought and disease. Monocultures of exotic species or low-diversity plantations are unlikely to provide these desired benefits.