Reforestation is critical to meeting Paris climate change accord targets, researchers say

Climate change experts accept that reducing greenhouse gas emissions – even doing so substantially – won’t be sufficient for limiting atmospheric warming to the 2°C (3.6°F) goal of the Paris Climate Agreement. And with carbon capture technologies years away from maturity and widespread commercialization, one option is to take advantage of proven nature-based systems for sequestering carbon.

Reafforestation is critical.

That is the central message of a widely discussed recent article in the journal Science Advances. America’s trees, soil, and wetlands each year capture around 11 percent of the nation’s emissions, according to EPA. The study’s researchers calculate that they could be harnessed to sequester up to 21 percent of net annual emissions of the U.S.

Read the story from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler - “Reforestation is critical to meeting Paris climate change accord targets, researchers say.”