The climate case for planting trees has been overhyped — but it’s not too late to fix it
The climate benefits of planting trees may have been greatly overestimated, but swift action could ensure reforestation meets its potential to curb dangerous emissions, new research has found.
Reforestation – or replanting trees in areas that have been cleared and degraded – is considered an important tool to curb climate change. Plants absorb carbon from the atmosphere and store it in their leaves, roots, stems and wood, as well as in the soil.
But to what extent can planting trees actually limit climate change? That is the question my colleagues and I examined in research published today.
We found while reforestation can contribute significantly to tackling climate change, its global potential is only a fraction of what’s been claimed. Unless we change tack, reforestation is unlikely to significantly help achieve net zero.