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| Sat, 14th Mar 2020 17:42:00 |
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Climate change: Will planting millions of trees really save the planet? |
From Greta Thunberg to Donald Trump and airlines to oil companies, everyone is suddenly going crazy for trees.
The UK government has pledged to plant millions a year while other countries have schemes running into billions.
But are these grand ambitions achievable? How much carbon dioxide do trees really pull in from the atmosphere? And what happens to a forest, planted amid a fanfare, over the following decades?
How many will the UK plant?
Last year's UK general election became a contest to look green.
The Conservatives' pledge of planting 30 million trees a year, confirmed in the Budget this week, is a big step up on current rates. Critics wonder whether it's possible given that earlier targets were far easier and weren't met.
If the new planting rate is achieved, it would lead to something like 17% of the UK becoming forested, as opposed to 13% now.
Tree planting is a popular idea because forests are not only beautiful but also useful: they support wildlife, help with holding back floodwater and provide timber.
And trees absorb carbon dioxide - the main gas heating the planet - so planting more of them is seen by many as a climate change solution.
At the moment, the UK's forests pull in about 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year but the hope is to more than double that.
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