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How does Reforestation Combat Climate Change?

With a population now teetering on 8 billion people, the amount of carbon dioxide we as a developed species are releasing into earth’s atmosphere is astonishing. The current data shows that humanity is emitting 99.45 million tonnes of CO2 each day, which, as anyone with any comprehension of the “greenhouse effect” would know, is a recipe for global disaster.

 

It’s no secret that the global disaster seems to be unfolding in front of our very eyes, as TV news stations have a host of video clips to choose from: Wildfires, rampant floods, drought, hurricanes, you name it. Somewhere around the world right now there is a town or region experiencing a calamitous natural disaster.

Aerial view of coal power plant high pipes with black smoke moving up polluting atmosphere at sunset.

These almost 100 million tonnes of CO2 need to be offset as soon as humanly possible, but doing so without negatively impacting global economies (also a recipe for disaster) is no easy task! While thousands of companies globally explore shifting to carbon neutral energy sources, another key driver in the fight against climate change is the natural carbon offsetting abilities of biodiverse forests.

Reforestation programs are among the most effective tools we have as a species in our fight against the devastations of global warming, and we at Ecowatt are proud to be part of a number of initiatives making considerable headway. However, the numbers aren’t easy.

beautiful green forest

Fortunately, thanks to science, we are able to measure our progress, our damages, and our needs. Our damages, as already mentioned, is the 99.45 million tonnes of CO2 emitted daily. Our progress is showing that at present, the planet’s forests are absorbing 7.6 billion tonnes of carbon annually, which equates to 20.8 million tonnes per day, highlighting a daily shortfall of 78.65 million tonnes. That’s a lot of carbon!


The two primary targets for us as a species to attack here are:

  1. Reduce our carbon emissions
    If we can reduce that astronomical figure of 99.45 million daily tonnes, we can get closer to net zero emissions.
  2. Increase carbon capturing forests
    We clearly need to increase the current figure of 20.8 million tonnes of CO2 captured by global forests to as high a number as possible.
Orange and red autumn trees in colorful forest

Ecowatt is actively working toward our ambitious first stage goal of planting 100 million trees by 2025. As part of our tokenized impact portfolio, we are supporting existing NGOs which are actively planting forests in strategic locations globally in order to help humanity reach net zero emissions. This also acts as part of our tokenized carbon credits program.

Our first pilot, starting out as the “Forest Garden Program” in Uganda, is well on its way to planting 1 million trees within the next year, and we aim to 100x this number by the year 2025. With the scientific data showing that one mature tree absorbs 21 kg of carbon per year, that will give our portfolio an annual carbon capturing yield of 2.1 million tonnes.


While that annual figure (equating to 5,753 tonnes per day) is still a far cry from the needed 78.65 million tonnes of CO2 to be absorbed daily, it is the beginning of an achievable goal. We at Ecowatt are positioning ourselves not only as partners, but as leaders in this global emergency, and believe that these initial goals (our first of many) will inspire numerous other partners and companies to join us in expansive reforestation projects. It is also important to note that these are initial goals for us at Ecowatt, and our ambitions for the scale of reforestation will expand, as we ourselves grow.

Reforestation is one of the most important ways to tackle our carbon emission problem facing earth in the next two decades, and meeting the daily goal of being able to absorb those 99.45 million tonnes of CO2 is achievable if we as a species strategically go about this mission together - leveraging all aspects of society, from government to philanthropists, public citizens to active corporate partners.

We invite you to read more about our reforestation projects to date, and to see how this aspect of our mission is crucial in the Ecowatt Impact Portfolio.



References:

Current daily forest CO2 absorption:

https://www.wri.org/release-new-maps-show-forests-absorb-twice-much-carbon-they-release-each-year

Global CO2 emissions as of 2021:
https://www.iea.org/news/global-co2-emissions-rebounded-to-their-highest-level-in-history-in-2021