Tech and infrastructureConnected by API and WidgetHow IdleForest turns unused bandwidth into trees
IdleForest is a free app and browser extension that plants trees from the internet bandwidth you are not using. Through 1ClickImpact it has funded 4,448 trees, 20 lb of carbon removal and 10 lb of ocean plastic, across 11 projects in 8 countries, all on its public profile.
Verified record
LiveThis is a reading, not a final count. The running total moves as more is funded, so the profile may be ahead of this page.
- Sector
- Tech and infrastructure
- Based in
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Sells
- Desktop app and extension that turn spare bandwidth into trees
- Connected via
- API and Widget
- Website
- idleforest.com ↗
About IdleForest
IdleForest is made in Lisbon. You install the Chrome extension or the desktop app, which runs on macOS, Windows and Linux and keeps working with the browser closed. After that there is nothing to do. The trees get planted while you use your computer.
It works in three steps. The app uses only the bandwidth you are not using, and steps back the moment you need it. Companies pay to run tasks over that spare capacity, like uptime monitoring and market research on public sites. That money pays for verified tree planting. No browsing data is shared.
There is no subscription and no card to enter. The user supplies spare bandwidth and gets trees in return.
“Share bandwidth to plant trees for free — unused internet capacity turned into planting.”
Published by IdleForest on its own siteidleforest.com ↗Why they added impact
IdleForest wanted tracking. It wanted its users to be able to follow a tree from planting to growth, and to watch live planting sessions as trees go into the ground. IdleForest said those would have been much harder to build on its own, so it went to someone who already had them.
As IdleForest puts it, “knowing you’re making a difference is just as important as actually making it.” So a user has to be able to check for themselves that the trees were planted.
What they chose
- TriggerSignups, referrals, bandwidth and site visitsEach one funds impact as it happens. None of them is a purchase.5 food trees per signup
- Carried byAPI and WidgetThe API carries signups, referrals and bandwidth. The widget handles visits on its own.
- Delivered byFrontier, Planting on Demand, Plastic Bank and Trees for the FuturePlanted and logged in 8 countries, project by project.
- On the recordThe public profile updatesAnyone can open it and check the same figures this page shows.
Tree Planting4,448 trees funded
Carbon Removal20 lb CO₂ funded
Ocean Cleanup10 lb plastic fundedIdleForest funds three kinds of impact: trees, carbon removal and ocean plastic. Almost all of it is trees.
Trees for the Future and Planting on Demand plant the trees. Frontier removes the carbon in Brazil, and Plastic Bank collects the plastic in the Philippines. IdleForest also plants through other partners, so these figures are only what it has funded through 1ClickImpact.
It runs two integrations, the API and the climate widget. The widget on idleforest.com funds impact on each page view, so a visitor who never installs the app still funds something.
The full breakdown is below: all eleven projects, the country each is in, who delivers it, and how much IdleForest has funded there.
Impact to date
Every project IdleForest has funded, with the country, the delivery partner and the units. Read from its public profile, not reported by us.
- Trees
- Carbon
- Ocean
- Uganda3,21673%
- Kenya59714%
- Tanzania3618%
- Sierra Leone1483%
- Vietnam271%
- Brazil200%
- Philippines100%
- Senegal20%
Units are trees, pounds or coral fragments, counted the same way as the cards above.
- agroforestry41.2%
- nutritional18%
- plant12.6%
- fauna protection8.6%
- medicinal8.4%
- endangered4.8%
- fast growing3.3%
- majestic3.1%
The share of each species group across the trees this business has funded, as its profile reports them.
| Project | Country | Delivery partner | Funded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Garden Program | Uganda | Trees for the Future | 3,003 trees |
| Forest Garden Program | Kenya | Trees for the Future | 488 trees |
| Friends of Lake Tanganyika (FOLT) | Tanzania | Planting on Demand | 360 trees |
| Dream International Uganda | Uganda | Planting on Demand | 213 trees |
| Partners in Rural Integration and Development Organization (PRIDO) | Sierra Leone | Planting on Demand | 148 trees |
| Community Organization for Positive Impact, Care and Development (COPICAD) | Kenya | Planting on Demand | 109 trees |
| Green Youth Collective (GYC) | Vietnam | Planting on Demand | 27 trees |
| Terradot, São Paulo | Brazil | Frontier | 20 lb CO₂ |
| Plastic Bank - Manila, Philippines | Philippines | Plastic Bank | 10 lb plastic |
| African Union's Great Green Wall (GGW) | Senegal | Trees for the Future | 2 trees |
| Forest Gardens in Tanzania | Tanzania | Trees for the Future | 1 tree |
Read from IdleForest's public impact profile. Project names link to the project's own page.
Set up the same thing
Same partners, same projects, same public record. One API call, a Shopify app or a Zapier step is all that sits between a customer action and a verified unit of impact.
Business tree planting
GPS-tracked planting with certificates, photos and live planting sessions.
OpenConnect with the API
One call per event from any stack. The docs cover the whole flow end to end.
Open
Run the same program as IdleForest
Pay per impact, start at one unit, and publish a record anyone can check.