An estate agency in Scotland’s central belt has launched an initiative to plant a tree for every client client it works with.

John O’Malley, director of O’Malley Property, told EYE that he had been inspired by COP26, particularly on hearing about the dwindling number of trees on the planet.

He said: “Some of the information I was hearing about global warming, climate change and the damage we are causing to our planet really hit home for me.

“I couldn’t believe the stats – today, only 30 per cent of our planet is covered in trees and since the start of human civilisation we have cut down almost half of all trees on this planet. We have reduced the Amazon Rainforest to a fraction of its original size and extinct more species than I can count.”

O’Malley said he had teamed up with Scottish charity Trees for Life, whose vision is of “a revitalised wild forest in the Highlands of Scotland”, to help restore the Caledonian Forest, which in the past covered most of Scotland.

He added that he had committed to creating a grove of trees, with the goal of planting 500 or so in 2022, and that 13 had been progressed to date.

O’Malley also pointed out the difference that could be made if more people did the same.

“There are 7.7 billion people on this planet and if everyone planted one tree per year, it would help,” he said. “It wouldn’t actually be enough – a valuable step forward, yes – but the stats show that everyone would actually need to plant around 160 trees per person and that would cancel out a decade’s worth of CO2 emissions by the time the tree’s matured.”

The estate agent says that his interest in trees stemmed from an interest in wildlife generally, and that this was why he had chosen the Trees for Life charity.

He continued: “When I was doing my research, I saw there were lots of companies where you could donate £1 or so to plant a tree, but you don’t get a say in what you help with.

“This was more expensive, but I wanted to do something to help Scotland in particular, and also because the work of this charity supports wildlife, such as squirrels and birds

“Every tree planted is named after the client, and they are happy about that.”

O’Malley also said he would like to exceed his target for the number of trees planted: “I’m aiming for between 500-1000 this year, but I would like to surpass that.”

The agency has other sustainability initiatives underway, having changed their for sale and lettings boards to recycled plastic and the introduction of electric cars: “The first two arrive at the beginning of March,” he added.