SweetRush — a global talent development company — wanted to offset not just their carbon, but the carbon their clients and employees produced too. The forest GME designed with them, La Maestra, is now infrastructure that other partners contribute to and learn from.
The challenge
Carbon-neutral employees was a goal SweetRush had already met. The real ask was bigger: offset the carbon their clients generated working on SweetRush projects too.
That meant the forest couldn't be a transaction — it had to be living infrastructure that grew with the company, anchored employee culture, and welcomed contribution from other companies who wanted to join.
The work
GME's reforestation work begins with science, not symbolism. La Maestra followed the standard GME methodology.
Site analysis with soil health and pH testing to match species to terrain; biological corridor design so native animal species return alongside the forest; long-term care planning that survives staff changes and budget cycles.
Greenhouses provided to local farmers, who grow the trees from seed — keeping the project's footprint local and creating a new revenue stream for agricultural communities.
An annual tree-planting event open to all employees; every project the team works on contributes to La Maestra; and open contribution — other companies are welcome to add their trees to the forest.
La Maestra became more than an offset. It became the model.
The outcome
The largest single metric in the GME portfolio — and a forest other partners now plant into.
"The teacher" is what La Maestra means — and the forest teaches in three directions: to the employees who plant trees there, to the companies who follow the model, and to the next reforestation project GME designs.
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