Veritree develops evidence-based verification system to support reforestation

Evidence suggests that 79% of global consumers consider the social and environmental impact of their purchases. In response, more brands are adopting causes such as reforestation, pledging to plant a tree for every purchase or allow buyers to donate a tree at check out.

Planting a tree, however, only makes a positive impact if it grows and thrives. Mitigating climate change, therefore, requires long-term forest management, but consumers and brands who support reforestation have no way to confirm their local actions are making a real impact. Even worse, companies who invest in reforestation ESG programs that fail to survive could be called out for greenwashing.

Veritree, an environmental platform that connects businesses with verified tree-planting projects, have a mission to allow customers, investors, and other stakeholders to independently verify these restorative actions by providing evidence of planting and continued ‘proof of life’ reports on the trees’ health

Veritree developed a transparent and durable blockchain system to verify planting, growth, and maintenance of trees. The company publishes evidence, including photos and survivability reports from people on the ground to Akord’s vaults. Veritree also mints these actions as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Cardano blockchain. The tokens point back to the assets and metadata stored in Akord vaults.

Unlike other options like IPFS, all data within Akord has a blockchain timestamp which further cements the evidence in an immutable manner. Akord’s permanent data storage, leveraging the Arweave network, enables Veritree to verify an action that may have happened more than a hundred years ago, a typical lifespan for many trees.

In addition, Veritree's system uses Akord's file versioning and access rights capabilities when publishing data to Arweave. The Akord vault system allows Veritree greater control over data, enabling them to provide different stakeholders separate access to different data sets depending on their level of involvement in the project.

Veritree offers a breakthrough solution for a complex challenge in reforestation. It ensures restorative actions are real, trusted, uniquely claimed, and perform as intended - forever.

Using decentralized, permanent storage from Akord along with the file management system built into the vaults, Veritree provides a permanent, transparent, and secure way to verify the health and impact of tree-planting. Consumers, brands, and other stakeholders can confirm reforestation activity and track the impact of their environmental support as the forest grows over centuries. Veritree instills confidence that their actions are making a difference and incentivizes continued giving.

The company's investment in evidence-based restoration and community engagement is critical to addressing climate change.

Check out our Striking Akord podcast episosde with Duncan Brown from Veritree.