Assessing the Carbon Capture Potential of a Reforestation Project

Background:

Reforestation projects are receiving more and more attention due to their potential to sequester carbon and limit the increase of the global average temperature above 2 Celsius degrees. Consequently, is important to evaluate the accuracy of the GHG capture results made by the increasingly funded reforestation platforms.

Goals:

This study seeks to test the affirmations made by classic reforestation platforms. To do so, researchers uses a life cycle assessment to 1) calculate the carbon footprint of setting up and maintaining a tropical reforestation plot for one year, 2) provide a carbon capture profile of this tropical reforestation plot, and 3) contrast their results with the claims been made by a typical reforestation platform.

Takeaway:

The study shows that not all planted trees will reach maturity because reforested areas can sustain a maximum number of individuals of a given size. Contrary to what some reforestation platforms argue, the authors estimated a period of at least 4.1 years for a lowland tropical reforestation plot to reach the 100 kg CO2 capture-per-tree. Therefore, the credits should not be recognized as contributing to a company’s greenhouse gas budget until the carbon has been sequestered and validated.