Finance:Together for Trees

Together for Trees (TFT) is an environmental campaign to help protect the rain forests around the world from deforestation. The campaign is the result of a partnership between Tesco (The UK's biggest retailer) and the RSPB (Europe's largest wildlife conservation charity). It was first publicly announced on 23 February 2012. The Together for Trees campaign aims to raise awareness and support for the RSPB's rainforest program, Saving Tropical Forests Together, which aims to protect “nearly 240,000 hectares of tropical forest in seven countries around the world.” This campaign aims to raise over £1 million for the RSPB in the first year. The money collected will be used to support essential on-the-ground conservation work, such as replanting native tree species and offering local employment in rainforest conservation.

Strategic aims

Some of the many aims of the 'Together for Trees' campaign include:

• Making companies in the Tesco supply chain more eco-friendly
• Providing funds to the RSPB in Wales as part of their Saving Special Places project
• To liaise with the RSPB on improving the eco-friendly business practices
• To raise awareness of deforestation and its effects on ecological systems
• To generate income through corporate and customer donations to support the RSPB's rainforest programme.

Tesco anticipates that somewhere around £500,000 will be raised in the first year (2012) towards the RSPB in Wales as a result of the Welsh bag levy which puts a charge on single-use carrier bags to reduce their excessive use. Wales had become the first UK nation to introduce such a levy, with customers paying a minimum of 5p per bag (October 2011 figures).