Amy Luers – The Conversation

Planting trees to offset carbon is meaningless if the trees are lost to fire. A new way of understanding carbon storage based on both time and quantity stored is required to fully utilize carbon storage in climate change mitigation strategies. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

September 28, 2023

Temporary carbon storage in forests has climate value — but we need to get the accounting right

H. Damon Matthews, Concordia University; Alexander Koch, University of Hong Kong; Amy Luers, Concordia University, and Kirsten Zickfeld, Simon Fraser University

Tracking both the amount of carbon and the time that it remains stored is key to unlocking the potential of nature-based carbon storage as a climate mitigation strategy.

Des arbres ravagés par l'incendie Caldor brûlent dans la forêt nationale d'Eldorado, en Californie, le 3 septembre 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

April 5, 2022

Climat : on doit planter des arbres, mais surtout cesser de brûler des combustibles fossiles

H. Damon Matthews, Concordia University; Amy Luers, Concordia University, and Kirsten Zickfeld, Simon Fraser University

La plantation d’arbres et la prévention de la déforestation permettent de stocker le carbone dans la nature, mais l’effet peut n’être que temporaire. Il faut cesser d’utiliser des combustibles fossiles.

Trees scorched by the Caldor Fire smoulder in the Eldorado National Forest, Calif., Sept. 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

March 30, 2022

Planting trees can help the climate, but only if we also stop burning fossil fuels

H. Damon Matthews, Concordia University; Amy Luers, Concordia University, and Kirsten Zickfeld, Simon Fraser University

Planting trees and preventing deforestation can store carbon in nature, but the effect may only be temporary. If we also eliminate emissions from fossil fuels, even this temporary effect is important.

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