In 2019, Justin Trudeau unveiled a federal election pledge to plant two billion trees nationwide.
Despite more than $3B in funding for the project, just 200M trees were ultimately planted by the Canadian government—a completion rate of just 11%—by the time the initiative shuttered in 2025.
In a far more impressive example of tree-planting prowess, Canadian Antoine Moses has broken a world record.
Moses, who was raised in Quebec before moving to Vancouver, recently planted more than 47,000 trees in just 24 hours.
“Planting a tree is one of the simplest and most human acts when done right,” says Moses. “At a time when the world feels increasingly divided, it’s something everyone can understand and take part in.”
Moses planted 47,460 mangrove trees in Kenya. Mangrove forests, which cover 2% of Kenya’s land but supply more than 70% of the region’s water, are under threat from local deforestation.
Moses isn’t just planting trees for the love of the game, though—he’s doing it strategically and scientifically, working with technology companies to ensure optimal impact.
For example, he is working with climate-focused search engine Ecosia as well as EarthLungs, which partners with national forest agencies and local communities to rehabilitate degraded public forests.
“High-visibility moments like this are also an important reminder that successful restoration is about far more than putting trees in the ground … It means restoring waterways and natural tidal flows so forests can recover and regenerate over time,” suggests Pieter van Midwoud at Ecosia. “Long-term ecosystem health is the true measure of success.”
And, for tracking tree planting at scale and over time, Moses turned to Vancouver-based startup veritree, which spun out of Vancouver-based sustainable apparel company tentree in 2022 after originally launching as an internal tool in 2019.
Veritree’s platform captures data such as species, location, planting density, and timing, creating a traceable record from the moment the mangroves are planted.
The platform synthesizes field, satellite, and ecosystem data points over time to monitor restoration progress and long-term survivability, using AI-driven insights to help assess ecosystem health at scale.
“Planting trees is just one part of the equation,” explains David Luba, co-founder of veritree. “Lasting impact comes from restoring entire ecosystems, including water systems, biodiversity, and local economies, and ensuring that work is tracked and verified over time.”
Recognized as one of the fastest growing tech firms in Canada, veritree has so far helped plant more than 200 million trees.
The B.C. upstart raised a $9M Series A round last year.