Elon Musk pledges 1 million trees to TeamTree campaign and changes Twitter name to Treelon

'Someone help me right now I can't stop smiling,' said YouTube star and #TeamTrees campaigner MrBeast

Elon Musk has donated $1 million towards a tree planting campaign set up by popular YouTuber Jimmy 'MrBeast' Donaldson.

The #TeamTrees initiative was set up in May with the goal of raising $20 million to plant 20 million trees around the world, however it has gained significant momentum over the last week after several other prominent YouTube stars joined the campaign..

In response to a tweet by MrBeast on Tuesday, Mr Musk wrote: "Sounds cool. Where are the trees being planted and what kind of trees?"

After the environmental initiative was explained to him, he responded: "Ok, sounds legit, will donate 1m trees."

The Tesla boss also changed his Twitter profile name to "Treelon", while other Twitter users pointed out that the name Elon means oak tree in Hebrew.

"I'm so happy right now," MrBeast responded after Mr Musk pledged to donate 1 million trees. "Someone help me I can't stop smiling."

Other notable donors to the campaign include Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, who pledged 150,000 trees, and various prominent YouTube channels.

Enough money has been donated so far to plant more than 8 million trees, which will be undertaken by the Arbor Day Foundation.

"For every dollar you donate, one tree will be planted in a forest of high need around the globe," the TeamTrees campaign website states.

"Due to the sheer volume of trees planted, they will be planted in a variety of forests on public and private lands in areas of great need. Many of these forests will be state and national forests managed by government agencies. The goal is to plant trees on every continent not named Antarctica."

The goal is to raise $20 million by the end of 2019 and for planting to begin in January 2020. All of the trees funded through the campaign will be planted before December 2022.