Over 650 football fields of native forest, over 500,000 trees, are being replanted across Australia and New Zealand! This was part of the Christmas greeting from the eTree team – Landcare Australia, Computershare and eTree member companies – to shareholders who had opted to receive company communications via email after registering at www.etree.com.au.
Background: Launched in March 2004, the eTree scheme leads to a donation of $2 being made to Landcare Australia every time a shareholder registers at www.eTree.com.au. This money goes to specified landscape change reforestation projects in the State or Territory in which the shareholder lives. The $2 donation is paid by participating listed companies, whose shareholders can take up the eTree incentive provided they have email and internet access.
The eTree initiative came from Computershare, the investor services and stakeholder communications company that manages the share registers of 60 per cent of Australia’s listed entities. Computershare collects the donated funds from participating listed companies and passes them on to Landcare Australia to help reforestation of selected sites.
Some of the projects earmarked for funding under the eTree initiative include the Murray Darling Basin box-ironbark belt in Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT and South Australia; Grow West at Bacchus March in Victoria; parts of rural and coastal Tasmania and the salinity-affected parts of south-western WA. Funding will also be directed to specific wetlands projects, such as the Fitzgerald Biosphere Reserve in WA and provision has been made for New Zealand projects.
The eTree initiative is backed by 14 foundation members, representing 5.5 million shareholdings. These include Telstra, AMP, HHG, ANZ, AXA, E-TRADE, Macquarie Bank, Coles Myer, Woolworths, Transurban, AWB, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Computershare.
The eTree incentive scheme is open to all listed companies and information is available at www.eTree.com.au.