June 23, 2022

How Polygon is Helping Reforest the Indian Subcontinent

Planting trees is one of the simplest ways of pulling excess carbon out of the atmosphere. But it only counts if the planting is done at scale and the trees survive. SankalpTaru is an Indian non-profit tackling this problem with Polygon’s blockchain technology.

Founded in 2013, SankalpTaru has planted over 3 million trees across hundreds of species, covering an area of over 3,000 hectares and capturing up to 1.5 million tons of CO2 in the process. Their activity covers more than 25 Indian states and union territories, including some of the most challenging terrain across Thar Desert, drought-affected Vidarbha region, hilly terrains of Himalayas, the cold desert of Ladakh, and more.

In return, the trees have helped support a community of farmers totaling nearly 36,000. The plantations have produced about 30,000 tons of fruit produce each year, bringing total income of INR 600 million, or $7.7 million.

Read more: Carbon Markets Demystified

SankalpTaru has tapped Polygon's sustainable network to bring tree data, such as location, growth and regular updates, to the blockchain and available to the public. Each tree gets a unique identifier, creating a digital forest twin that makes sure the plantation record cannot be tempered with and prevents double counting and reassignment of trees planted by SankalpTaru's individual and corporate donors.

Go to SankalpTaru's website, select a tree, pay and they'll do the rest. You can pick a tree based on the location, zodiac sign, native species, and holidays. For every donation, you'll receive a tracking link to keep tabs on the progress. When a tree is planted, it is instantly instantiated on Polygon.

To play our part, Polygon is eliminating the network’s carbon debt going back to its inception and making the chain climate positive going forward starting this year. The core team also committed $20 million to a series of community initiatives, which includes funding projects that can help combat climate change.

Stay tuned with our blog to keep up with the latest on Polygon's sustainability initiatives.