Walking Post podcast 39: Steps help to plant trees with Treekly

This week, we have a conversation with Jon Bunning, co-founder of Treekly, about the app that tracks steps and turns them into trees.TreeklyOperating as a social enterprise, Treekly is a digital platform that converts physical movement into reforestation efforts. The app encourages users to maintain a "Treekly streak" by walking at least 5,000 steps a day; once a streak is established, the company facilitates the planting of a mangrove tree in a climate-vulnerable region. The initiative is designed to tackle two issues simultaneously: the sedentary nature of modern life and the ongoing requirement for scalable carbon sequestration through natural means.The platform functions by integrating with existing health and fitness trackers to verify activity. While accessible to individual walkers, a significant portion of the company’s growth stems from its corporate wellness programmes. Businesses use the platform to incentivise employee activity, providing a tangible environmental output—measured in trees planted—as a reward for collective health milestones. The social aspect of the app allows users to form "forests" or leagues, fostering competition amongst hiking groups and local communities.In January 2026, the company announced it had surpassed a significant milestone of 1 million trees planted across its sites in Madagascar, Kenya, and Indonesia. This update coincided with a new partnership with a European reforestation collective to begin planting native broadleaf species in the United Kingdom, marking the first time the platform has offered domestic planting options for its users.To get in touch with the podcast with comments, guest ideas, or for advertising/sponsorship opportunities, email us at [email protected] for Atlantic Canada podcast advertised on this week's podcast: https://lnkd.in/eBZvS3Uv