Canberra high school teachers Emily Clarke and Colin Price have planted 9,000 trees on their Wheeo property (about 50km north-west of Goulburn), part of a reforestation project that has planted more than 30,000 trees across the NSW Southern Tablelands.

The couple joined the Nestlé Global Reforestation Program – which aims to establish 10 million trees in partnership with Greening Australia, Canopy, and One Tree Planted, to capture carbon and restore local ecosystems – because they wanted to do something real and tangible about tackling climate change.

“We have an incredible array of native wildlife on and around our property, such as wombats, echidnas, wallabies, reptiles, and over 30 native species of birds, including kookaburras, magpies, and wedge-tailed eagles,” Mr Price said.

“The planting of thousands of native trees at our property through this project will help our efforts to restore and reconnect habitat for these native species.

“We want to use our property to inspire our local community to participate in this kind of activity. Working with Greening Australia and their partners means that you can achieve a lot more, and faster, than what you could alone.

“Together we can all recreate corridors of bush for wildlife to move through the landscape more easily, especially by using degraded land that is not contributing to agricultural productivity. This kind of restoration is one of the most valuable things landholders can do for our local environment and biodiversity.”

The Nestlé Global Reforestation Program aims to grow 200 million trees globally by 2030, and is part of the Swiss multinational corporation’s efforts to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, reaching a 50 per cent reduction by 2030.

The 10 million trees in Australia – a biodiverse mix of native species – aim to capture 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over a 25-year carbon crediting period. Averaged over the project lifetime, this is the equivalent of exhaust emissions from more than 22,000 cars driving each year. (A less fuel-efficient car can emit around 3 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year.)

By the end of 2023, Nestlé will have supported the planting of more than 1.9 million trees in Australia.

“But this is about much more than just planting trees,” Margaret Stuart, Nestlé Oceania Director of Sustainability, said. “This program aims to improve biodiversity, help restore habitats, and provide environmental and economic benefits to local communities.” Those benefits include better water quality and revitalised degraded soils at each of the planting sites.

Paul Della Libera, Greening Australia’s Chief Operating Officer, said that partnership and collaboration were key to driving impact and change across Australian landscapes.

“To address the twin challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change, we must work together, finding innovative ways to drive speed and scale. Working with partners such as Nestlé allows us to undertake ambitious projects that will help to deliver real change and tangible benefits to the Australian landscape.

“These projects are not possible without the participation of private landholders. In the 40-plus years we’ve been restoring landscapes, we’ve worked with thousands of landholders, helping them to re-establish native habitat, improve the health of their land, and create environmental and financial value. These relationships are essential to achieving nature restoration at scale. We couldn’t do this work without them.”

Landholders interested in learning more and registering their interest for a no-obligation chat with a Greening Australia representative can do so online.

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