Marketing tree-planting: a field experiment in India

Catherine Cole, Emeritus Professor in Marketing, Tippie College of Business

Gaurav Mehta, Founder and CEO, Dharma Life

Gita Johar, Meyer Feldberg Professor of Business, Columbia Business School

Mithilesh Shah, PhD Student in Marketing, London Business School (LBS)

Rajesh Chandy, Professor of Marketing at LBS, Tony and Maureen Wheeler Chair in Entrepreneurship

Szu-chi Huang, Associate Professor of Marketing, Stanford University

SCP Climate Change Initiative

Researchers

The challenge

Forest Loss Crisis

Deforestation is a growing global crisis. Between 1990 and 2020, the world lost roughly 420 million hectares of forest, contributing to biodiversity loss and rising carbon emissions.

Rising Deforestation in India

India exemplifies this challenge: from 2015–2020, the country experienced an average annual loss of over 600,000 hectares of forest. Such rapid decline increases climate risks, disrupts local weather patterns, impacts the economy, and leaves vulnerable households increasingly exposed to environmental shocks.

The intervention

Field Experiment to Promote Tree Planting

This project will take the form of a large-scale field experiment in Uttarakhand, a state in northern India located in the foothills of the Himalayas.

The study tests whether different types of expert-designed marketing messages can encourage rural households to buy and plant trees.

Local female entrepreneurs will lead a multi-channel marketing campaign, combining street plays, household visits, videos, and WhatsApp messages.

This design enables researchers to evaluate the impact of in-person and digital communication on pro-environmental action.

The Intervention

A Technology-enabled Approach

The project integrates advanced digital tools to monitor outcomes and ensure transparent tracking.

Generative AI will transform intervention messages into locally tailored images and videos that can be easily shared via WhatsApp.

A mobile application will collect geo-tagged images of planted trees, enabling AI models to verify planting and track tree growth over time.

Each tree will also receive a unique identification number, with all records stored on a blockchain system to ensure accuracy, transparency, and tamper-proof data.

Community Engagement

The intervention will be implemented through a network of rural female entrepreneurs who will promote and sell tree saplings within their communities.

Entrepreneurs will connect with the households through street plays, household visits, and community interactions, while sharing researcher-designed messages and locally tailored marketing content.

Beyond supporting reforestation efforts, the project also aims to strengthen the livelihoods of these entrepreneurs by creating new income-generating opportunities.

Potential impact

Marketing for Environmental Change

The project aims to generate scalable insights on how marketing interventions can encourage tree planting and increase green cover in vulnerable regions.

By testing these strategies in Uttarakhand, the study could inform future reforestation programmes while strengthening local livelihoods and climate resilience.

“By generating new insights into the impact of marketing interventions, not only does it contribute to academic knowledge but it also motivates enterprising women to instigate change within their communities and the environment. And change the planet for the better”

Rajesh Chandy

Co-authors

Catherine Cole, Emeritus Professor in Marketing, Tippie College of Business

Gaurav Mehta, Founder and CEO, Dharma Life

Gita Johar, Meyer Feldberg Professor of Business, Columbia Business School

Mithilesh Shah, PhD Student in Marketing, London Business School (LBS)

Rajesh Chandy, Professor of Marketing at LBS, Tony and Maureen Wheeler Chair in Entrepreneurship

Szu-chi Huang, Associate Professor of Marketing, Stanford University

SCP Climate Change Initiative

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