By Aahil
November 9, 2022
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the world must stop using fossil fuels and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to prevent catastrophic overheating.
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and carbon sequestration using natural resources—planting trees, preserving forests, and restoring wetlands—have gained favor.
The analysis, developed by 20 researchers from around the world for a University of Melbourne climate effort, focuses on countries' NDCs, or how they expect to cut emissions in line with the Paris Agreement.
There has been a lot of interest in CDR in net-zero pledges from corporations and governments, but this has never been quantified in terms of land area across all countries, said Kate Dooley
Dooley said that removal targets in NDCs are also calculated in land area—a promise to reforest a particular number of acres.
Most countries quantify their emissions using sequestration objectives in tonnes of CO2 removed through various activities, employing land-use activity, carbon dioxide removal factors, and other indicators.
Instead of growing new forests or transforming Indigenous territory into tree plantations, countries should protect old-growth forests, which store more carbon than younger trees, and Indigenous rights.
Alternative food systems to industrial agriculture that preserve biodiversity and manage the land more sustainably can also be beneficial.
In recent years, consumers have more opportunities to neutralized their polluting purchases or offset their carbon-intensive habits; more companies offer to plant trees for everything from airline tickets to garments