The Plant a Trillion Trees Campaign to Reduce Global Warming–Fleshing Out the Concept

Abstract

The campaign to plant a trillion trees provided an easily understood approach to reduce the threat of global warming. However, focusing on trees does not consider that a maturing forest releases carbon (C) from dying trees offsetting C intake from growth of other trees, and results in only a one-time carbon storage benefit. Under sustainable management that harvests before forest growth slows down, forest C is transferred to wood products that substitute for fossil fuel (FF)-intensive products, reducing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with every harvest. Sustainably managed forests maintain growth by replanting (or regenerating), sustaining the C stored in products, as well as avoiding FF-intensive product emissions with every harvest. This paper addresses the question: Could planting more trees significantly reduce atmospheric CO2; and if so, how? Survey data from many wood-producing mills show life cycle inventory (LCI) data on C that has been tracked through every stage of processing for many different wood products specific to each United States (USA) supply region, as well as C displacement measurements when substituting wood for FF-intensive products. Results show that more and better-managed forest lands and more efficient product uses provide significant opportunities to reduce CO2 emissions, especially in highly productive forest regions.