In March 2020, we launched a plan (now) called bunq Elite. Any bunq Elite user can plant a tree for each €100 they spend with their cards. Zero effort, a greener world.

Since then, the bunq community has done nothing but surprise us year after year. We’ve focused on 2 areas where we can make the most impact: Kenya & Madagascar. This update concerns the efforts that have been done in Madagascar only - more specifically, in Marotia.

Before the project started, the mangrove forests found in this area were subject to deforestation and forest degradation from charcoal production and wood collection for cooking, construction, and other purposes.

Here’s a quick look at how the site looked back in 2019:

Slowly but surely, things started to turn around. Together with our partner Eden Reforestation Projects, we began planting at the site in March 2020, and by December 2020, the bunq community had contributed to planting 1.5 million trees at the site. This is how much of a difference just 9 months make:

Now that 2 years have passed, we can honestly say we couldn’t be prouder of our community and the impact it’s had. We’ve planted 5.4 million trees together, in Madagascar alone!

And while that’s impressive in itself, the project doesn’t just plant trees that help reforest land. It has plenty of other effects that are just as important. Let’s have a quick look at some changes we’ve seen in the areas where the trees are planted:

• Eden Reforestation Projects has employed an average of 97 full staff members per month. Wanna know more about who they are and their lives? Check out Omahiry’s story, or Abdi’s.

• The project created an average of 2,169 working days per month

• With a steady income, the employees can put savings aside, invest in their households, start micro-enterprises to diversify their income opportunities, provide healthcare and everyday needs for their families. This wasn’t the case for many of the communities, previously.

• Women’s empowerment is a core principle and goal for the team in Madagascar. The Madagascar workforce is 44% female!

• Mangroves provide storm-surge protection for local residents. Trees growing along rivers and coastlines provide a natural barrier that mitigates the impacts of flooding events, helping the communities developing and living nearby.

What's next?

We’ll continue to plant at Marotia in Madagascar until we reach the site capacity of 8.3 million trees. Throughout this project, the teams will actively protect the site and replant any losses to ensure the native mangrove forest reaches its full potential. Ultimately, many of these trees will mature, producing seeds of their own and helping the forest return to a point of natural equilibrium.

It goes without saying that nothing we’ve done, and nothing we plan to do, would be possible without you. Your contributions help us complete this site and work towards reforesting some of the four million hectares that the Madagascar government has committed to restoring by 2030 as part of the AFR100 initiative.

Ever wanted to see what a mangrove tree looks like in real life?

Check out the bunq community’s adopted mangrove tree at the Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam! This is the exact same species we plant in Madagascar, and it represents the millions of trees planted by the bunq community.