sustainably.run

What It Is

sustainably.run is an environmental and poverty-alleviation public welfare platform operated by UK-based non-profit GiftTrees Partners Limited. It pioneered a public welfare model that partners with the food service industry: by integrating with restaurant point-of-sale systems, it lets diners voluntarily donate to tree-planting projects, while funding agroforestry projects in underdeveloped regions. It achieves the dual goals of restoring ecosystems through tree-planting and helping communities out of extreme poverty, with a vision to plant 1 billion trees and lift 1 million people out of extreme poverty.

Core Features and Model

The platform’s core service is open to food service businesses: it offers free integration with major restaurant ePOS systems, with no downtime or extra costs required during onboarding. After integration, it automatically adds an opt-in 1.23 GBP tree-planting donation to customers’ bills by default. Partner businesses get an exclusive admin dashboard to view tree-planting data, access marketing materials and incentive tokens, and check geotagged, in-person updates on real project progress online. The platform publishes audited impact reports on a regular basis, disclosing data such as tree survival rates and community poverty-alleviation outcomes. To date, it has planted over 5 million trees, restored more than 54 square kilometers of degraded land, and created over 450 local jobs.

Pros and Cons

Advantages

The platform’s model delivers a true win-win outcome: food service businesses get corporate social responsibility brand backing at zero cost; consumers get clear, tangible fulfillment from participating in public good with just a small donation; the project delivers both tangible ecological restoration and poverty alleviation outcomes, rather than being just performative carbon neutrality. It also has high transparency, fully traceable results, and maintains a stable tree survival rate of over 90%.

Disadvantages

It currently only accepts partnerships with UK food service businesses, so its service coverage is very limited. It has also temporarily paused new partnership applications from tree-planting organizations, so its expansion pace is quite conservative.

Who It’s For and Access from China

The platform primarily serves UK food service brands and international public welfare organizations. It can be accessed directly from China. Domestic Chinese users who want to participate in similar tree-planting initiatives can check out local projects such as the SEE Alxa public welfare program.