How to Choose a Tree Plantation Partner for CSR: A 12-Point Checklist

Last reviewed: October 2026. A vendor-neutral checklist you can use with any plantation partner, including us.

Why the choice of partner matters

Planting is the easy part. The value of a CSR plantation depends on how many trees are still alive after three years, and on whether you can prove it to your board, auditors and stakeholders. A weak partner can leave you with dead saplings, thin paperwork and claims you can't defend.

The checklist

1. Legal eligibility. Is the partner, or its implementing arm, a Section 8 company, registered trust or society with a CSR-1 registration number? Ask for the number and check it.
2. Track record. How many CSR projects has it delivered, for which kinds of companies, and can you speak to two or three past clients?
3. Survival data. What share of trees survived on past projects after one, two and three years, and how was that measured? Be wary of partners that report only trees planted.
4. Site and land. Where exactly will the trees go, who owns the land, and is there written consent from the landowner, community or authority?
5. Species plan. Are the species native or suited to the soil and rainfall? Is there a mix, not a single species?
6. Care period. How long will the partner water, weed and protect the trees, usually three years, and will dead saplings be replaced?
7. Tree-level tracking. Is every tree or plot geo-tagged and photographed, and can your team open the records themselves at any time?
8. Reporting and documents. Will you get progress reports, a utilisation certificate for each year, and support for impact assessment if your company needs one?
9. Community benefit. Who benefits from the trees? For example, on farmland, does the farmer keep the fruit and timber income?
10. Clear pricing. What does the per-tree price include: sapling, planting, care, tracking, reporting? Very low prices usually mean little or no care.
11. Employee engagement. Can the partner run a safe, well-organised planting day for your teams if you want one?
12. Honest carbon claims. If the partner talks about carbon credits, is the project registered under an approved methodology and verified? Plantation alone does not create credits.

Red flags

• Only "trees planted" figures, with no survival data
• No site visit offered before or after planting
• Prices far below others for the same care period
• No CSR-1 registration number, or reluctance to share it
• Carbon credit promises without a registered project
• The same trees offered to several companies, or claimed again for carbon after being funded as CSR

Questions to ask in your first meeting

• Can you show us a live project with tree-level records?
• What was the survival rate on your last three projects, and how did you measure it?
• Who looks after the trees after planting day, and for how long?
• What documents will we receive each year, and when?
• Can our employees visit the site?

How Grow Billion Trees answers these questions

Since you may be comparing us too, here is how we work. We run CSR plantation programmes for companies across 14 states: Miyawaki forests, agroforestry with farmers (who keep the fruit and timber income), mangrove restoration and urban forests. Trees are cared for for three years, and 85% of trees survive across our programmes. Read how we measure survival. Every tree is geo-tagged and tracked on our GreenTrack platform, which your team can open at any time. See CSR tree plantation, browse projects across India, or talk to our team.

Related guides: CSR rules for tree plantation · CSR utilisation certificate