Hyundai’s Tree Correspondents let forests report climate change in their own words

A Juçara palm in Brazil, a silver fir in Czechia and a tulip tree in South Korea joined a newsroom in 2025. Sensors measured each tree’s condition. A custom AI system then converted those readings into first-person reports about drought, heat, soil moisture and the life around them.

Tree Correspondents was created by FCB New York for Hyundai’s IONIQ Forest initiative. The project began on 21 March, the International Day of Forests, before being fully revealed in July 2025.

The timing marked ten years of IONIQ Forest and the planting of Hyundai’s one-millionth tree. The campaign gave that milestone an ongoing voice by allowing selected trees to report what was happening around them.

Each tree reported from its own patch of earth

Environmental sensors were installed around trees in Brazil, Czechia and South Korea. They collected information about photosynthesis, soil moisture, air, light and surrounding conditions.

The readings were combined with wider climate and weather information. This included data from The Weather Company and the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

A custom chain of large language models analysed the information and translated it into readable stories. The system also considered the tree’s species, location, history and ecosystem when developing its voice.

A human editor worked with the technology to shape the final articles. Scientific papers, literature and philosophy gave the language more context while the latest environmental readings kept every report connected to a real place.

A tree experiencing dry soil could describe the strain of drought. Another could report the return of birds or changing conditions within its ecosystem. The resulting stories gave readers a personal way to understand information that would otherwise appear as charts and measurements.

One million trees became the opening chapter

Hyundai started IONIQ Forest in South Korea in 2016 to mark the launch of the original IONIQ Electric. The project expanded globally after the arrival of the IONIQ 5 in 2021.

By July 2025, the initiative had planted one million trees across 13 countries, including India, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Türkiye, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Tree Correspondents treated that number as the start of a continuing record. Planting created forests that could keep supplying information about their health and surrounding environments long after the original event.

The campaign also connected Hyundai’s technology positioning with its environmental programme. AI had a clear role within the system. It processed large amounts of changing data and made the information easier for people to read.

The forest became a working newsroom

Tree Correspondents launched with 28 data-led articles. The platform was opened to more than 8,000 journalists working across over 500 media outlets, giving them access to reports generated from the forest data.

Hyundai also allowed the correspondents to publish first-person updates through its social channels for a limited period. A campaign film documented the installation of the sensors and the work of the scientists, technologists and editors behind the system.

The official film later passed 86 million views on YouTube. Tree Correspondents also won two Gold Lions and one Silver Lion in Digital Craft at Cannes Lions 2025. It received a Bronze Pencil for Creative Use of Data at The One Show in 2026.

Hyundai’s million-tree figure showed the size of the IONIQ Forest initiative. Tree Correspondents brought the story back to individual trees and the conditions each one continued to experience.

Credits

Tree Correspondents (2025). Hyundai Motor Company, global campaign for the IONIQ Forest initiative. Agency FCB New York. Chief Creative Officer Michael Aimette. Global Creative Partner Danilo Boer. Executive Creative Director Alexandre Abrantes. VP Creative Directors Joey Monteverde and EJ Lee. Creative Directors Pieter Claeys and Roxane Schneider. Associate Creative Directors Lara Polovina and Rodrigo Ribeiro. Design and craft led by Sy-Jenq Cheng and Joyce Shi. Strategy led by Todd Sussman and Robbie Felder. Technology and new media by Uncharted Limbo Collective, with Project Director Chris Waters, Technical Director George Adamopoulos and AI Development Lead Eleana Polychronaki. Production by Unit+Sofa. Director and Director of Photography David Hofmann. Production and post-production by Final Frontier. Awards included two Gold Lions and one Silver Lion at Cannes Lions 2025, and a Bronze Pencil at The One Show 2026.