Roots of Change: One Tree Planted Leads Teams & Leagues Toward Sustainable Future

The climate crisis is complex, with many contributing variables and interconnected causes. It can be hard to know where to start to make a difference. But what if there was one simple tool that could clean the air, filter water and provide a habitat for hundreds of species of animals? 

It already exists. They’re called trees. 

That’s the philosophy of One Tree Planted, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on combatting deforestation and saving the planet by planting trees, focused on a one dollar, one tree model. Since 2014, One Tree Planted has planted more than 40 million trees in 43 countries. 

As awareness of climate change grows, publicly facing entities – companies, entertainers, celebrity brands – are increasingly committing to do their part to address it. One Tree Planted aims to help make those commitments meaningful. The organization has collaborated with high-profile celebrities, including a recent partnership with Coldplay, to help the band shrink their carbon footprint. Now, One Tree Planted has increasingly been helping sports teams, leagues and athletes reach their sustainability goals. 

That’s good news for teams and the planet. There’s no question that sports are going green. From the park to the pitch to the ice, it’s clear that the new age of sport will need to focus on making the industry environmentally sustainable. 

ABOVE: One Tree Planted's Chris Dickerson awards the Oakland A's Tony Kemp with the golden shovel for planting the most trees - 9,285 - in the 2021 edition of the Play for Trees program.

In this new age, One Tree Planted recently launched Play For Trees, a partnership with over 40 professional athletes to donate trees every time they do things like get strikeouts, steal bases, or make a play in their sport. Their fans can join them in automatically donating a tree with the players as well.

“The next generation – they’re making decisions on their fandom based on what teams are doing from a community perspective,” said Heather Hooper, Director of Social Impact for the San Jose Sharks, a One Tree Planted partner.

In November 2020, One Tree Planted teamed up with Juventus FC, which at the time was home to the legendary Cristiano Ronaldo, the most-followed man on Instagram, to boost the club’s sustainability and plant trees for every goal the club’s teams scored throughout the season. 

According to Juventus Sustainability Manager Andrea Maschietto, clubs like Juventus can leverage their fandom to affect real change on issues like deforestation and climate change.

“We have to use our assets to spread these kinds of messages in social and environmental aspects, because every three or five days we are in front of millions of people,” Maschietto said. “Probably we are not convincing each one, but for sure, each day we are convincing a new one.”

Part of what makes One Tree Planted a unique sustainability partner is that the trees the organization plants become part of the physical fabric of a team’s community, helping make the effect of donations palpable. When the San Jose Sharks partnered with One Tree Planted on a campaign to plant 100 trees for every stick the Sharks broke on the ice this year, the organization hosted a tree-planting event in the community, allowing fans to see the impact firsthand. 

“People look to professional sports teams to kind of understand the example. What are the players on the ice doing? What is the staff doing?” Hooper said. “Teams are such staples in the communities that they are in, so people are looking for them to be responsible, to be sustainable and to do what they can to be good community stewards.”

In addition to leading by example on environmental sustainability, the Sharks’ collaboration with One Tree Planted provided fans with new storylines when watching games, boosting fan engagement, Hooper said.

“You watch the game so differently, because you see a broken stick and normally you wouldn't care, you’d be like, ‘Okay, that’s a broken stick, what impact does that have?’” Hooper said. “But then, knowing that these programs exist, you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s 100 trees that get to be planted.’”

Now entering their third year of partnership with One Tree Planted, Maschietto said he thinks other clubs should follow Juventus’ lead in teaming up with the organization.

“I hope that in the next months, weeks, years, other clubs join the same initiative with them because it would be useful – not just for the clubs, but for the entire planet,” Maschietto said. 

As an organization that has grown to be a true turnkey solution for teams’ and leagues’ social media presence as well, One Tree Planted can manage all aspects of a team’s sustainability agenda, according to Founder and President Matt Hill. 

“We’ll create the page for you, we’ll create the video for you,” Hill said. “We’ll talk about the story and the impact. All you’ve got to do is invite us in.”