The idea that we can alleviate carbon emissions by ‘offsetting’ existing ones with CO2 reduction initiatives elsewhere It has become the central axis of government and business strategies to combat climate change. But this is an idea we need to seriously question.
Basically, compensation strategy It is assumed that the release of carbon into the atmosphere, stored by biology a hundred million years ago, can be reduced in the current biological cycle. Since the signing of the Kyoto protocol, clearing has become the preferred option worldwide. (…)
Planting trees to reduce the effects of forest clearing or to provide shade, stabilize land and improve biodiversity means carbon from the atmosphere can be sequestered in ways that would not otherwise be possible.
However This doesn’t mean that the planet can automatically absorb all the fossil carbon that human industry continues to emit.. The idea that damage occurring now can be “compensated” elsewhere in the future (a situation also observed in the field of aquatic ecology) cannot be taken at face value.
How does the carbon cycle work?
To put things in perspective, global carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels currently stand at around 10 billion tonnes per year. If we continue to emit at this rate, total fossil fuel emissions will be approximately 280 billion tons between now and 2050. Seven times greater than the estimated maximum biosequestrationIt is 38 billion tons between 2015 and 2050.
Before humans started extracting fossil fuels, carbon circulated in a dynamic equilibrium: the total amount ‘in’ was balanced by the total amount ‘out’, so the amount of carbon stored did not change.
However, starting with coal and then with oil and natural gas, this balance was disrupted and Carbon stored for thousands of years is being released.
“Carbon sequestration by plants, trees, soils and oceans can only reduce carbon in the current cycle, but not additional fossil carbon.”
Despite its ancient origin, this CO2 fossil is ‘new’ carbon added to the existing active land-atmosphere-ocean carbon cycle. The fact is that the substance in question is stored for long periods in plants, soils, geological formations and oceans. it can only reduce carbon from the current cycle, but not additional fossil carbon.
Although the carbon atom of the tree is the same as the carbon atom in burning fossil fuels, the similarity ends there. The fossil carbon that trees are supposed to reduce is something separate and distinct.
Planting a tree only reduces the carbon loss of another tree that no longer exists (for example, the tree we cut down).. Moreover, planting trees to reduce fossil carbon emissions condemns future generations to turn the land into forests that will remain forever.
This requires: many risks, including forest fires and storm damage are all caused by drought and rising temperatures. The feedback loop from climate extremes caused by climate change can limit or even stop carbon sequestration in forests.
Planting forests to alleviate this situation, Land likely won’t be available for better usesIncluding food production. Yet the world is currently cutting down trees at twice the rate of replanting.
carbon trading trap
The concept that is now widespread everywhere “Net zero” emissions are at best a delaying tactic, at worst a form of self-deception. because that justifies allowing more fossil carbon to be released indefinitely.
In New Zealand, this means subtracting the carbon sequestered by forests planted since 1990 from total emissions, giving the false impression that forests are 27% lower than they actually are.
After subtracting sequestered carbon from total emissions, the remainder is called “net emissions,” even though each tree planted replaces a pre-existing tree. fossil emissions have not been offset.
Trading in fake carbon credits and selling “ghost credits” has been a problem in the past. In general, it has been shown that “The offset credits negotiated in the market today do not represent real emissions reductions.”
But the basic assumption is that we can reduce fossil carbon in the current carbon cycle. And this is despite the New Zealand Climate Change Commission making it clear that the addition of fossil carbon to the atmosphere is permanent on human timescales.
More trees alone won’t do the trick
In addition to natural isolation strategies, artificial carbon capture and storage techniques. However, these technologies require large amounts of energy, are extraordinarily expensive, and have limited potential. Most attempts so far They failed.
Additionally, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) notes, carbon captured through such technologies does not have to be permanent. More importantly, the net energy yield of fossil fuels (that is, the energy they provide versus the energy required to extract them) is already in sharp decline.
“Even if the entire country or planet were replanted with trees, at best they would absorb the equivalent of ten years of current emissions.”
Any carbon capture system would significantly accelerate this decline. According to the IPCC, between 13% and 44% of the energy obtained from the extraction of fossil fuels will be lost in the form of energy required for the carbon capture process.
The planet’s net zero balance widespread economic and social change This only serves to delay the inevitable.
Even if the entire country or planet were replanted with trees, they would absorb, at best, the equivalent of a decade of current emissions.
Sequestering carbon from land use changes requires reversing deforestation and planting more trees. However Planting trees instead of stopping fossil emissions is not the solution. Planting them and not emitting fossil carbon is the only solution.
Reference article: https://theconversation.com/were-burning-too-much-fossil-fuel-to-fix-by-planting-trees-making-net-zero-emissions-impossible-with-offsets-217437
Mike Joy
He is a senior researcher in Aquatic Ecology at the Morgan Foundation at Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand).
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