AstraZeneca pledges to invest $400 million in replanting trees

An investment of $400 million by AstraZeneca has been declared to back climate action and the well-being of humanity, with the money to be put to use in the restoration of forests and the preservation of biological diversity.

AstraZeneca, a biotechnology firm, declared a $400 million financial commitment to reforesting and safeguarding biodiversity to aid climate action and promote human health.

AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology firm, has committed to investing US$400 million in its AZ Forest programme globally.

AstraZeneca has decided to commit to planting 200 million trees by the year 2030. This will be spread across various Brazil, India, Vietnam, Ghana, and Rwanda projects. These projects will protect over 100,000 hectares of land and thus promote biodiversity while also helping to build ecological and community resilience.

At the start of 2020, AstraZeneca launched their AZ Forest initiative - one of the core components of their sustainability strategy, Ambition Zero Carbon - to plant and care for more than 50 million trees by 2025. To date, more than 300 varieties of trees have been planted in Indonesia, Ghana, the UK, the US and France to help bring back their natural environments.

Pascal Soriot, the Chief Executive Officer of AstraZeneca, notes that the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss are wreaking havoc on the planet and adversely impacting human health. To combat this, the company is partnering with local communities and environmental specialists to execute reforestation on a massive scale, thereby promoting biodiversity, sustaining livelihoods, and removing roughly 30 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over 30 years. Their initiative, called AZ Forest, is utilizing a science-based approach.

Achieving Carbon Neutrality through AstraZeneca's Science-Based Targets

AstraZeneca has dedicated itself to meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement by achieving a 90% absolute reduction in its emissions. Furthermore, the business is aiming to become science-based net-zero emissions by 2045. As part of this aim, the company has committed to a 98% reduction of its greenhouse gas emissions before 2026.

The programme is now being expanded, positively affecting the lives of 80,000 people worldwide.

Creating AZ Forest initiatives with the help of experts in planting, the involvement of local populations, and the support of governments is critical to the successful regeneration of natural woodlands and the implementation of agroforestry.

The advantages of these initiatives are manifold, from the generation of new employment opportunities and the honing of skills to the conservation of endangered wildlife and the enhancement of public well-being. To ascertain the success of each venture, they are all scrupulously audited and evaluated by leading delivery partners and third-party specialists like The European Forest Institute (EFI).

According to Marc Palahi, Chair of the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance (CBA), forests provide essential services in the fight against climate change, such as preserving biodiversity and operating the circular bio-economy. Palahi states that forests and trees are crucial to life on our planet, as they are necessary for the health and well-being of people. He believes that initiatives like AZ Forest, guided by science and principles, can reduce the effects of climate change while also producing economic and social advantages for local communities.