By Heiko Balzter, Director of Institute for Environmental Futures, University of Leicester Planting trees is seen as a cornerstone of efforts to avert climate breakdown. But a major new study in Science finds their potential has been drastically overstated - and relying on forests to offset carbon emissions could distract from the urgent need to cut fossil fuel use.
The researchers, a team of scientists mostly based in China, looked at both afforestation (creating new forests) and reforestation (restoring cleared ones). Unlike earlier studies, they carefully limited the land assumed to be available...