Planting trees is often seen as a simple way to help the planet. Trees take in carbon dioxide, a gas that traps heat and warms the Earth. So, many people think growing more trees will cancel out the pollution from burning fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal.
Planting Trees Sounds Easy, But Itâs Not Enough
But a new study shows this idea doesnât work when we look at the full picture. If we wanted to plant enough trees to cancel out the pollution from the worldâs largest fossil fuel companies, weâd need to cover the entire land area of North and Central America with trees. That means every forest, city, farm, and house would have to be replaced with trees.
Even then, we would only be covering the pollution from 200 major fossil fuel companies. These companies hold giant reserves of oil, coal, and gas that they plan to use in the future. If all that fuel is burned, the pollution would be massiveâtoo much for trees alone to absorb.
Planting Trees Wonât Match the Numbers in This Study
The scientists studied the top 200 fossil fuel companies. They calculated how much carbon dioxide would enter the air if all their fuel reserves were used. Then, they figured out how many trees weâd need to cancel out that amount of pollution.
Global Banks Caught Greenwashing as They Secretly Fund $869 Billion Climate Collapse
The answer was huge: weâd need so many trees that they would cover all of North America and Central America combined. And remember, thatâs only for the pollution from these 200 companies. It doesnât even include the pollution from cars, factories, or other smaller companies.
Then the scientists looked at the cost. If these companies had to plant those trees, it would cost $10.8 trillion. Thatâs a lot more than what these companies are worth together, which is $7.01 trillion. So even if they used all their money, they still couldnât afford to plant enough trees.
The study also looked at whatâs called the âsocial costâ of carbon. This is the cost to societyâlike damage from storms, rising seas, and poor healthâfrom each ton of carbon released. That cost is about $185 per ton. If the companies had to pay that, theyâd lose even more money.
Why Tree Offsets Feel Good But Donât Work
Tree planting is popular because itâs easy to understand. People can see a tree and know itâs doing something good. Big companies often talk about tree planting in their ads. They say it helps the environment and shows they care.
But using trees as the main way to cancel out pollution gives a false sense of hope. It makes people think we can keep polluting and just plant trees to fix the problem. Thatâs not true.
Trees do help. They take in carbon as they grow. But thereâs only so much land on Earth. And much of that land is already being used for farming, housing, and wildlife. We canât replace all of that with forests.
Also, trees take years to grow. And if they burn in wildfires or die early, they release the carbon back into the air. So, tree planting isnât a forever solution.
The Hard Math That Canât Be Ignored
This study looked only at tree planting. Other ways to remove carbon, like using machines or storing it underground, are still too expensive or not ready yet.
The research shows that the amount of carbon stored in the fuel that companies plan to burn is far too much. Even if we used every bit of free land for trees, we couldnât keep up. And thatâs just one part of global carbon pollution.
The truth is simple but tough: there is not enough space, money, or time to rely on trees alone. The study breaks down the numbers and proves that planting trees, while helpful, cannot clean up the entire mess from fossil fuels.
Itâs like trying to clean up a flood with a mop while the water is still pouring in. The mop helps, but the flood keeps growing. The math tells us that trees canât keep up with the flood.
