Reforestation is a method of carbon avoidance that uses trees to absorb carbon from our atmosphere. It is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways of mitigating climate change. So, we had to ask: how effective are reforestation carbon offsets?

Reforestation carbon offsets are effective because they reinforce our carbon sinks; however, they often lack permanence and do not reduce carbon emissions immediately. They are efficient because they are cost-effective, but they also face carbon storage capacity limitations.

Keep reading to find out how efficient and effective reforestation carbon offsets are, how you can offset your carbon footprint with them, what their pros and cons are, how they can mitigate climate change, and what better alternatives to reforestation carbon offsets are. 

The Big Picture of the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Reforestation Carbon Offsets

Carbon offsets are reductions in carbon emissions that are used to compensate for carbon emissions occurring elsewhere. They are measured in tons of CO₂ equivalents and are bought and sold through international brokers, online retailers, and trading platforms on what is known as the global carbon offset market. 

“Carbon Offset: a way for a company or person to reduce the level of carbon dioxide for which they are responsible by paying money to a company that works to reduce the total amount produced in the world, for example by reforestation”

Oxford Dictionary

Planting trees can be classified two ways, either as reforestation or afforestation. Reforestation carbon offsets are a specific type of tree planting carbon offset that focuses on replanting trees in recently deforested areas (i.e., converting recently non-forested land back into forest). Conversely, afforestation focuses on planting trees on land that has not recently been covered with forest.

“Reforestation: the action of renewing forest cover (as by natural seeding or by the artificial planting of seeds or young trees)”

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Reforestation is an example of biological carbon sequestration, or the storage of carbon in vegetation (forests), soils, and oceans, which are commonly referred to as our carbon sinks. 

Reforestation carbon offsets can help combat deforestation, which is the main threat to our forests and occurs at approximately 10 million hectares (~25 million acres) per year. In total, our planet has lost more than 1/3 of its forest since the last ice age, which occurred about 2.6 million years ago. 

Reforestation is one of the simplest and most meaningful ways you can help preserve the environment and combat global climate change. Trees not only act as one of our largest carbon sinks, they also provide numerous benefits in addition to climate change mitigation.

Reforestation efforts focus on planting new trees to combat climate change by reinforcing forests, one of our biggest carbon sinks. Reforestation varies in effectiveness and efficiency due to limitations involving permanence and timing of emission reductions.

Here’s How Effective and Efficient Reforestation Carbon Offsets Are

In terms of effectiveness, reforestation carbon offsets reinforce our carbon sinks; however, they often lack permanence, do not reduce carbon emissions immediately, and do not reduce your own carbon emissions, which can lead to greenwashing.

In terms of efficiency, reforestation carbon offsets are relatively cost-effective and continue to avoid CO₂ emissions after their project life span; however, they also face carbon storage capacity limitations.

How Effective Are Reforestation Carbon Offset Programs at Reducing CO₂ Emissions

Effectiveness involves completing a task with a desired outcome, typically a successful one. 

“Effective: producing the result that is wanted or intended; producing a successful result”

Oxford Dictionary

Reforestation carbon offsets are effective at mitigating climate change because they reinforce our carbon sinks; however, they often lack permanence, do not reduce carbon emissions immediately, and do not reduce your own carbon emissions, which can lead to greenwashing.

Reforestation Carbon Offsets Reinforce Our Carbon Sinks

Forests are capable of absorbing some of the roughly 33 billion tons (bt) of CO₂ that we emit every year from burning fossil fuels. This makes forests one of our biggest carbon sinks, or carbon reservoirs.

Our global forests absorbed over 15.6 bt of CO₂ each year from 2001-2019. Compared to the approximately 8.1 bt of CO₂ released via deforestation, fires, and other disturbances, this means that forests act as a carbon sink capable of absorbing a net 7.6 bt of CO₂ per year.

“Carbon Sink: an area of forest that is large enough to absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide from the earth’s atmosphere and therefore to reduce the effect of global warming”

Cambridge Dictionary

Trees absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere to produce oxygen via photosynthesis, a process that complements life on earth that exhales CO₂ when breathing. More specifically, trees absorb carbon into their leaves, trunks, roots, and surrounding soil.

In short, reforestation reinforces forests, which are one of our biggest carbon sinks capable of absorbing billions of metric tons of CO₂ every year.

Reforestation Carbon Offsets Often Lack Permanence

Reforestation carbon offset projects also must be permanent, in the sense that there must be a full guarantee against reversals of carbon emission for the foreseeable future. 

Nature-based solutions, such as reforestation, lack permanence because they are reversible. Rather than storing the carbon in permanent reservoirs (i.e., underground in rock formations), carbon is stored in biomass (trees). Once a tree is planted, it should never be removed in order to guarantee permanence. But trees die naturally, and environmental disasters such as floods, fires, changes in land use, and climate change itself can negate any permanence. 

In short, nature-based solutions, such as reforestation efforts, lack permanence because they are reversible.

Reforestation Offsets Do Not Reduce Carbon Emissions Immediately

Reforestation, or restoring forests on lands where they once existed, is more time intensive than protecting existing forests because physically planting the trees takes time. 

Carbon emission reductions are also delayed when you restore forests because you have to wait for the trees to reach maturity before they can begin to reduce carbon emissions. All trees mature at different rates, but a typical hardwood tree takes around 20 years to reach maturity. This means we must wait decades after planting the tree to begin to reap most of the environmental benefits. 

In short, reforestation does not reduce carbon emissions immediately because trees must first reach maturity before they can begin reducing emissions.

Reforestation Offsets Do Not Reduce Your Own Carbon Emissions

In general, one of the main limitations of carbon offsetting is that purchasing a carbon offset does not directly reduce your carbon footprint. It only makes others reduce their carbon footprint to compensate for your carbon footprint. 

If emissions are only offset and not reduced from the source, this could lead to greenwashing, when the consumer is deceived into thinking they are offsetting their emissions but in reality, they are not. Companies accused of greenwashing either invest in non-verified credits, do not prioritize in-house emissions reductions, or double-count carbon credits. Or sometimes, all of the above.

In short, because reforestation offsets do not reduce your own carbon emissions, they could lead to greenwashing.

How Efficient Are Reforestation Carbon Offset Programs at Mitigating Climate Change

Efficiency involves performing a task while using the least amount of resources and producing the least amount of waste possible.

“Efficient: working in a way that does not waste a resource (= something valuable such as fuel, water, or money)”

Cambridge Dictionary

Reforestation carbon offsets are efficient at reducing CO₂ emissions because they are relatively cost-effective and continue to avoid CO₂ emissions after their project life span; however, they also face carbon storage capacity limitations.

Reforestation Carbon Offsets Are Relatively Cost-Effective

In general, combating deforestation is an expensive process. But coupling reforestation with carbon offsets could help finance this process, especially since reforestation carbon offsets themselves are typically more cost-effective than other categories of carbon offsets. For example, reforestation offsets from leading providers (i.e., The Arbor Day Foundation, Reforest’Action, Ecologi, and One Tree Planted) cost less than $50 per ton of CO₂ offset. Compare this to direct carbon capture offsets which can cost anywhere from $100-$1,200 per ton of CO₂. 

However, we will need many more reforestation offsets than we currently have to combat climate change effectively. As more reforestation offsets are made available, their prices will go up as a result. And this process will continue until we have enough of them on the voluntary carbon offset market (VCM). One study published in Nature Communications estimates that for forests to contribute 10% of mitigation needed to limit global warming to 1.5 °C by 2055, reforestation carbon offset prices will increase up to $281 per ton of CO₂. 

In short, reforestation carbon offsets are relatively cost-effective when compared to other methods of carbon emission reduction.

Reforestation Carbon Offsets Can Continue To Avoid CO₂ Emissions After Their Project Life Span

Carbon emission reductions are delayed when you plant new forests because you have to wait for the trees to reach maturity before they can begin to reduce carbon emissions. However, trees continue absorbing carbon long after they mature. This means that reforestation projects can continue to reduce carbon emissions long after the trees have been planted.

The ability for reforestation offsets to continue to reduce carbon after the project has been completed is dependent on the continued protection of the forest. Reforestation offsets do not necessarily protect trees after they have been planted, REDD+ carbon offsets are more concerned with protecting already existing forests. So, any future carbon reductions could be negated if the trees are deforested before they die naturally. 

However, at some point, carbon storage in trees is balanced by the release of carbon back into the atmosphere via wood and leaf decay, insect and animal consumption, and overall tree respiration. As they mature, forests go from being carbon negative, to carbon-neutral, and even carbon positive, if they are destroyed.

In short, reforestation offsets continue to reduce carbon long after the project has been completed, so long as they are not deforested prematurely.

Reforestation Carbon Offsets Face Carbon Storage Capacity Limitations

Because reforestation restores previously existing forests, our overall reforestation potential is limited by the number of forests that are in need of reforestation. Globally, our forests absorbed over 15.6bt of CO₂ each year from 2001-2019, and the world has lost 1/3 of its forests since the last ice age. This means that 15.6 represents 2/3 of our global forest potential (when it only comes to reforestation). 

In total, the global reforestation potential would be at 7.8bt of CO₂ per year. Even if fully utilized, this is only a fraction of the 33bt of CO₂ emissions that we’d need to offset per year.

How much carbon a tree can store, or its carbon storage capacity, is dependent on the type of tree and a host of environmental factors, but a typical tree can absorb anywhere from 10-40kg (22-88 pounds) of CO₂ per year.

If we use an average of 40 pounds of carbon absorbed, we would need to plant more than 200 billion trees every year to compensate for all of our emissions. A number that is far away from the about 1.9 billion trees currently planted every year.

In short, carbon storage capacity limitations prevent reforestation efforts from compensating for all of our carbon emissions, though we still have a long way to go to reach full storage capacity.

How Could you Offset Your Own Carbon Footprint With Reforestation Carbon Offsets

The market for carbon offsets was small in the year 2000, but by 2010 it had already grown to represent nearly $10 billion worldwide. The voluntary carbon offset market (VCM) is where everyday consumers can purchase carbon offsets to offset their carbon emissions, and the Ecosystem Marketplace predicts the VCM can grow to $50B by the year 2050. 

Because reforestation carbon offsets are cost-effective and are one of the simplest ways you can contribute to the fight against climate change, they are expected to continue to make up an ever-increasing share of the VCM. Below are our favorite reforestation offsets.

What Are The 5 Pros and 4 Cons of Reforestation Carbon Offsets

Reforestation carbon offsets are cost-effective, reinforce our carbon sinks, preserve biodiversity, promote clean water, and allow us to reduce carbon emissions in ways we wouldn’t be able to accomplish individually.

However, reforestation carbon offsets also often lack permanence, do not reduce carbon emissions immediately, face carbon storage capacity limitations, and do not reduce your own carbon emissions, which can lead to greenwashing.

What Are the 5 Pros of Reforestation Carbon Offsets

Reforestation carbon offsets have various pros that make them effective at absorbing carbon from our atmosphere.

What Are the 4 Cons of Reforestation Carbon Offsets

Understanding the drawbacks of reforestation carbon offsets is important when implementing this strategy on a large scale in order to mitigate climate change.

How Can Reforestation Carbon Offsets Help Mitigate Climate Change

Climate change is a severe and long-term consequence of fossil fuel combustion. Reforestation carbon offsets can help mitigate climate change because the more trees we plant, the more CO₂ they can absorb from our atmosphere. Carbon in our atmosphere can, if left untreated, remain there for tens of thousands of years and exacerbate the negative effects of climate change.

How is Climate Change Defined

Climate change is arguably the most severe, long-term global impact of fossil fuel combustion. Every year, approximately 33 billion tons (bt) of CO₂ are emitted from burning fossil fuels. The carbon found in fossil fuels reacts with oxygen in the air to produce CO₂. 

“Climate change: changes in the earth’s weather, including changes in temperature, wind patterns and rainfall, especially the increase in the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere that is caused by the increase of particular gasses, especially carbon dioxide.”

Oxford Dictionary

Atmospheric CO₂ fuels climate change, which results in global warming. When CO₂ and other air pollutants absorb sunlight and solar radiation in the atmosphere, it traps the heat and acts as an insulator for the planet. Since the Industrial Revolution, Earth’s temperature has risen a little more than 1 degree Celsius (C), or 2 degrees Fahrenheit (F). Between 1880-1980 the global temperature rose by 0.07C every 10 years. This rate has more than doubled since 1981, with a current global annual temperature rise of 0.18C, or 0.32F, for every 10 years. 

As outlined in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, we must cut current GHG emissions by 50% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. 

How Do Carbon Offsets Generally Help Mitigate Climate Change

Levels of carbon in our atmosphere that cause climate change have increased as a result of human emissions since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in 1750. The global average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today registers at over 400 parts per million. Carbon offsets can help prevent these levels from increasing even more.

When you hear the words “carbon offset”, think about the term “compensation”. Essentially, carbon offsets are reductions in GHG emissions that are used to compensate for emissions occurring elsewhere. 

Carbon offsets that meet key criteria and verified project standards, are additional and permanent, and are a part of projects that are carried out until the end of their lifespan have the best chance of reducing carbon emissions and therefore reducing climate change. 

When we offset CO₂ we also slow the rate of global temperature rise, which in turn minimizes the effects of climate change. 

How Do Reforestation Carbon Offsets Specifically Help Mitigate Climate Change

Reforestation offsets specifically help mitigate climate change because they plant more trees, and trees remove CO₂ from the air as they grow. By increasing the number of trees on our planet, we increase the amount of carbon they are capable of storing. The more carbon our forests can sequester, the less carbon there is in our atmosphere. And because higher levels of carbon exacerbate global warming, less is better.

What Are Better Alternatives to Reforestation Carbon Offsets

If used correctly, reforestation carbon offsets can provide environmental, economic, and social benefits beyond reducing carbon emissions. They have the potential to instigate meaningful environmental change and begin to reverse some of the effects of climate change. 

However, we can’t let this method be a guilt-free way to reduce carbon emissions. Reforestation carbon offsets must be used in conjunction with direct carbon reduction measures because planting trees alone will not reduce CO₂ levels enough in the short term to meet 2030 net-zero targets. 

These reduction measures don’t have to involve drastic changes either. Actions that may seem small can have a big impact because those small changes add up! You can reduce your carbon footprint in three main areas of your life: household, travel, and lifestyle. 

Reduce your household carbon footprint:

• Wash with cold water: Washing clothes in cold water could reduce carbon emissions by up to 11 million tons. Approximately 90% of the energy is used to heat the water, so switching to cold saves also saves energy.

• Replace incandescent bulbs with fluorescent bulbs: Fluorescent bulbs use 75% less energy than incandescent ones, saving energy and thus reducing electricity demand and GHG emissions.

Reduce your travel carbon footprint:

• Fly less: Aviation accounts for around 1.9% of global carbon emissions and 2.5% of CO₂. Air crafts run on jet gasoline, which is converted to CO₂ when burned.

• Walk or bike when possible: The most efficient ways of traveling are walking, bicycling, or taking the train. Using a bike instead of a car can reduce carbon emissions by 75%. These forms of transportation also provide lower levels of air pollution.

Reduce your lifestyle carbon footprint:

• Switch to renewable energy sources: The six most common types of renewable energy are solar, wind, hydro, tidal, geothermal, and biomass energy. They are a substitute for fossil fuels that can reduce the effects of global warming by limiting global carbon emissions and other pollutants.

• Recycle: Recycling uses less energy and deposits less waste in landfills. Less manufacturing and transportation energy costs means fewer carbon emissions generated. Less waste in landfills means less CH₄ is generated.

• Switch from single-use to sustainable products: Reusing products avoids resource extraction, reduces energy use, reduces waste generation, and can prevent littering.

• Eat less meat and dairy: Meat and dairy account for 14.5% of global GHG emissions, with beef and lamb being the most carbon-intensive. Globally, we consume much more meat than is considered sustainable, and switching to a vegan or vegetarian diet could reduce emissions. 

• Take shorter showers: Approximately 1.2 trillion gallons of water are used each year in the United States just for showering purposes, and showering takes up about 17% of residential water usage. The amount of water consumed and the energy cost of that consumption are directly related. The less water we use the less energy we use. And the less energy we use, the less of a negative impact we have on the environment.

Because reforestation offsets are an indirect way and not a direct way of reducing emissions, they alone will not be enough to reduce global carbon emissions significantly. Direct measures of emission reductions, such as reducing individual energy use and consumption, are better alternatives to reforestation offsets.

Final Thoughts

Reforestation (tree planting) carbon offsets are effective because they reinforce our carbon sinks; however, they also often lack permanence, do not reduce carbon emissions immediately, and do not reduce your own carbon emissions, which can lead to greenwashing. Reforestation offsets are efficient because they are relatively cost-effective and continue to avoid CO₂ emissions after their project life span; however, they also face carbon storage capacity limitations.

Carbon offsets can instigate meaningful change, but they should not be seen as the only solution to climate change. They are effective at reducing CO₂ in the short term, but in the long term, they fail to reduce CO₂ enough. 

When used in conjunction with direct CO₂ reduction measures, carbon offsetting can be much more effective. We should reduce our own carbon footprint as much as possible first, and only then choose the most effective carbon offsets.

Stay impactful,

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