Statement of Ethical Practices
At 9Trees, we recognise that the partners that we work with can bring with them a reputational risk if those partners are found to use unethical practices, modern slavery or to be guilty of corruption. We are also determined to make sure that all claims that we make and that our partners make about the environmental benefit of tree planting are honest. We will not tolerate ‘green washing’ or double-counting of benefits.
We know that working with corporate organisations, especially as they seek to satisfy their Environmental, Social and Governance commitments, can be a risk to 9Trees and that we have to be alert to manipulation in order to protect our own reputation.
We cannot afford to be associated with a partner that suffers significant negative press-coverage associated with environmental activities, or financial mis-management, so we will take care as we choose our partners. We will take reasonable and appropriate steps to know who our donors and supporters are and to exercise due diligence which will help us to assess any risks to 9Trees that may arise from accepting a donation or certain types of donations. However, we must do this in a way that is proportional to the very small size of our organisation and the low number of employees that we have; we do not have a team that can carry out checks and measures so the extent of our controls is purposefully low. We want to be honest about the amount of time and resources we can realistically assign to this work.
We will readily refuse to accept sponsorship or donations from any business that we recognise to have unethical practices, greenwashing or associations with bad-press. We will review customer feedback for businesses using sites such as Trust Pilot and, if in doubt, we will refuse their offer.
We will examine the promises of partners to make sure that tree planting will be delivered in good faith and that any claims about environmental improvement are accurate and honest.
We shan’t publish avoidance criteria because we do not have the resources to interrogate, in detail, the business activities of any potential donor or partner, and their historic or international business affairs. In recognition of this inability to fully interrogate potential partners, we will select smaller partners, with local associations.
Our due diligence checks will be limited to face-to-face discussions with businesses and business leaders, but we will not take them at-their-word; we will ask for evidence and reassurance about their claims about their business. We will also check for online reviews and press articles to get a feel for the calibre of the businesses that we are planning to work with.
Our biggest strength for the protection of our reputation, and the interrogation of our partners lies in our long-term partnerships. We rarely receive single one-off donations from donors that we do not know well, and we usually work with partners over time, getting to know them and witnessing their working practices first-hand.
We also maintain long-term relationships with the land-owners where our trees are planted, revisiting the woodland for maintenance and checks, so we can be confident that the promises that we make are delivered. That means that we are completely transparent with the people who give us money, and they can come to the site and see the trees and environments that they have funded. By carrying out site visits with people, meeting them face to face, visiting their business premises, and being well-connected across the environment protection community in the UK, we are doing our best to make sure that we are working with the best people and businesses.
If we unearth any concerns about a prospective partner, we will pause our relationship with them until we can check out the necessary information and either allay our concerns or confirm that we were right to pause the relationship.
This statement sits alongside our suite of Policies and is closely aligned to our Modern Slavery Statement, our Bribery and Corruption statement and our Code of Conduct.