Buyer's guide
What to check before you sign: survival, transparency, compliance, reporting and cost, with 12 questions to ask any partner.
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Quick answer
Start with your goal, then compare partners on survival and how they count it, transparency (geo-tags, photos, satellite checks and data you can open), species and site, benefits to communities, CSR registrations and reporting, and what the price includes. Be careful with carbon claims for young trees.
Decide what the programme is for before comparing partners: CSR compliance, a net-zero plan, BRSR reporting, employee engagement, brand gifting or a regulatory condition. The goal decides the programme, the reports you need and how long trees must be cared for. Not sure? Try the programme finder.
Planting is easy; survival is the result that matters. Ask every partner for their survival rate and how it is counted: per project, from records of each tree, at what age, and whether dead saplings are replaced.
Across our programmes survival is 85%, counted per project from geo-tagged tree records. See how we measure survival.
GreenTrack does all four for every project we run.
Native, site-suited species survive better and support more wildlife. Ask who owns the land, who protects the trees after planting, how water is managed in the first dry seasons, and why each species was chosen.
Trees last when the people around them benefit. In agroforestry, farmers keep the income from fruit and timber, which can raise farm income up to 3× compared with conventional two-crop farming. Ask how communities are involved and who benefits.
Work out your budget with the CSR obligation calculator.
Ask for data in the form your reports need: trees planted and surviving by site, species, area, community outcomes and carbon estimates with the method stated. Listed companies filing BRSR[3] should check which disclosures the programme supports. Try the BRSR readiness check.
A low price per tree can hide a small sapling, no aftercare or no replacement. Compare what is included: sapling size, planting, years of care, replacement of failed saplings, geo-tagging and reports. Our published price is ₹299 per tree for a 2-3 ft sapling, planting, three years of care and a geo-tag; estimate a programme with the project cost estimator.
Trees take years to grow, and carbon credits need an approved methodology and independent verification. Be wary of partners selling "carbon credits" for newly planted trees. Quality labels such as the Integrity Council's Core Carbon Principles help.[4] Read our carbon credit rate guide.
Last reviewed: October 2026
Ask how it is counted before comparing numbers. Across our programmes survival is 85%, counted per project from geo-tagged tree records.
Sapling size, planting, years of care, replacement of failed saplings, geo-tagging and reports. Our published price of ₹299 includes a 2-3 ft sapling, planting, three years of care and a geo-tag.
An implementing agency for CSR projects must be registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs through form CSR-1.
Only if the project follows an approved methodology and is independently verified, which takes years. Be careful with partners offering credits for saplings.
