At ClimateForce, our work extends beyond planting trees. We are developing models for rainforest restoration that can scale and pay their way, and that depends on knowing what restoration actually costs.

Across several trial phases, we tracked costs in detail and refined our methods as we went. The result is one of the most thorough pictures yet of what it takes to regenerate tropical rainforest, and of how that work can become more efficient and affordable over time.

Capturing the Real Costs

Our analysis centred on recurring operational expenses. Fuel was costed at a standard diesel price of AUD $2.00 per litre, organic herbicide inputs at bulk pricing for ACO-approved products, and labour from recorded field task durations and wage rates.

Capital expenses such as equipment and infrastructure were set aside for this stage of the analysis. Our focus was on the ongoing costs that restoration projects most commonly face.

How Costs Changed Across Trials

Initial Trial Phases: Learning by Doing

In Plant Out 1, costs were relatively modest as activities were delayed and input costs were minimal.

In contrast, Plant Out 2 had a front-loaded cost curve in the first month and maintained high expenditure due to intensive early interventions. While expensive, this phase acted as a testing ground for innovation, providing valuable data on what works - and what doesn’t.

Plant Out 3: Adaptive Management in Action

By Plant Out 3, the team was applying what earlier phases had taught us. Labour practices were streamlined, weed management became more targeted, and mulch application was refined.

Costs held steady through the maintenance periods and overall expenditure dropped substantially. Plant Out 3 demonstrated that careful planning and adjustments grounded in field data can make restoration both more predictable and more cost-effective.

The Power of Iterative Improvement

**Figure 1.** *Monthly distribution of total costs per trial over the first year of rainforest restoration.* Box plots show the spread of monthly total costs (AUD) for Trials 1–19, including extrapolated data for incomplete records in Trials 13–19 (post month 8).

Across 19 trials, three clear operational phases emerged (within their first year of implementation):

Trials 1–6: The Foundation Phase
Median Monthly Costs ~$300–500
Consistent standardised practises

Trials 7–12: The Experimental Phase
Volatile, high costs ($900–$2,500+ per month)
Trial-and-error approach to weed control and inputs

Trials 13–19: The Optimisation Phase (Plant Out 3)
Median Monthly Costs below $600
Design and implementation efficiencies through learnings

This extraordinary improvement (p < 0.001) demonstrates the power of adaptive management, where each planting phase informs refinements to reduce waste and enhance workforce efficiency.

What We Have Learned So Far

Labour is King
Labour accounted for 85–90% of total costs. This finding makes one thing clear: future cost reductions must focus on optimising workforce deployment.

Inputs Have Minimal Impact on Budget
Organic herbicides and fuel are often raised as major budget concerns, yet they made up a relatively small share of total costs. This shifts the focus of the conversation. The economics of restoration are shaped far more by people and processes than by materials.

Strategic Planning Pays Off
The flattened cost curve of Plant Out 3 proved that smarter scheduling, reduced labour time per tree, and optimised task sequencing can dramatically cut costs—without compromising planting density or ecological outcomes. By designing operations around ecological rhythms and field logistics, we’re building a model that is both ecologically sound and economically smart.

Building a Blueprint for Scalable, Climate-Resilient Restoration

The ClimateForce trials show that restoration costs are not fixed. They can be brought down through steady, ongoing improvement. Next steps include:

Standardising survival-adjusted cost metrics
Integrating real-time monitoring systems to trigger proactive adjustments
Developing labour scheduling models to optimise workforce allocation across seasonal cycles
Integrating capital expenses into overall regeneration cost models

Together, these components will help create a climate-resilient, adaptive, and economically grounded approach to restoration - exactly what’s needed to scale rainforest regeneration globally under the pressure of climate change.

The Takeaway: Efficiency + Ecology = Regeneration at Scale

Moving from costly, highly variable interventions to lean, repeatable systems is a significant step forward for ecological restoration.

We now have evidence that rainforest regeneration can be cost-effective while remaining organic, adaptive and resilient to a changing climate. Every trial, every tree and every dataset adds to a model that others around the world can build on.

As our work expands, our aim stays the same: to make sure every dollar and every hour goes meaningfully towards regenerating some of the planet’s most vital ecosystems.

The Economics of Restoration: How ClimateForce Is Driving Down the Cost of Rainforest Restoration