The Trillion Tree Campaign was officially launched in Monaco on Friday, March 9, at the Grimaldi Forum with the support and encouragement of Prince Albert.

Far from being a local project, the Trillion Tree Campaign, organised by the founders of Plant for the Planet and as part of the UN Environment Programme, has an ambitious target: to inspire millions of people across the world to plant trees in order to further the fight against climate change.

Originally the brainchild of 9-year-old Felix Finkbeiner, a young German schoolboy worried about the future of polar bears, the notion of enlisting young people worldwide to plant huge numbers of trees quickly took root. To date, 15,205,451,679 trees have been planted thanks to the initiative.

Prince Albert was first inspired by Felix, by then age 11, who was speaking at a conference about his passion. The two were then reunited on Friday in Monaco.

Felix is now 18, as inspired today as he was in 2007, and it was an emotional moment for both when a small gift was offered by Plant-for-the-Planet to Prince Albert: an olive tree that was planted in front of the Grimaldi Forum.

A new target was set from the Principality on Friday: one trillion trees to be planted across the world as a vital part of the fight against climate change.

According to the organisation, “If each of us plants 150 trees, we will reach 1,000 billion trees worldwide. There is still enough room for that many new trees. Those trees would absorb a quarter of the man-made CO2 emissions.”

A Plant-for-the-Planet Tree Card allows you to start your tree collection and grow a forest of your own, and every month, the Plant-for-the-Planet initiative will plant at least one tree for you.

“Stop talking. Start planting”, with photos of children holding their hand over the mouth of prominent community members, is a global campaign that promotes the association’s conviction that talking alone is not going to make a difference and that now is the time for action. People are encouraged to share the pictures with friends via Facebook.