Eden Reforestation Projects

This award recognises an organisation that, in 2025, completed a strategic transformation to focus exclusively on carbon-eligible landscape restoration. Formerly known as Eden Reforestation Projects, the newly rebranded Eden: People+Planet shifted its model to combine philanthropic support with carbon market finance, ensuring that large‑scale reforestation is no longer donor‑dependent but sustained by verified carbon credits. Across Tanzania’s Rubeho Mountains alone, the organisation is developing a 40‑year carbon project spanning 394,000 hectares that integrates REDD+ protection with active reforestation, designed to generate 14–23 million carbon credits while empowering over 92,000 people across 40 villages.

Beyond the strategic pivot, Eden: People+Planet has planted more than 977 million trees since its founding and operates in ten countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Its ‘Employ to Plant’ model continues to provide fair‑wage employment to thousands of local villagers, directly linking ecosystem restoration with poverty alleviation.

By proving that nature‑based carbon removal can be delivered at scale, with integrity and durable community benefit, this rebranded initiative has positioned itself as a leading force in the global carbon removal landscape. For combining community employment, verified biodiversity outcomes and large-scale carbon sequestration in a single integrated model, Eden Reforestation Projects receives this recognition.

Score: 87

Reference: https://eden-plus.org/2025/07/24/eden-faces-funding-challenge-how-were-adapting-with-proven-solutions/