Planting trees to offset carbon is meaningless if the trees are lost to fire. A new way of understanding carbon storage based on both time and quantity stored is required to fully utilize carbon storage in climate change mitigation strategies.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Tracking both the amount of carbon and the time that it remains stored is key to unlocking the potential of nature-based carbon storage as a climate mitigation strategy.
Global efforts to cut emissions fall well short of what’s needed to avoid dangerous warming. It’s becoming essential to develop carbon-removal strategies to get to net zero.
The BlackRock climate fund is a start, but New Zealand needs a comprehensive approach to tackling its various environmental and economic vulnerabilities to the climate crisis.
Most technologies for CO₂ removal are expensive. But New Zealand could be doing this cheaper than other countries, taking advantage of existing geothermal and forestry industries.
Offering ‘carrots’ like biodiversity credits to landholders won’t stop natural collapse. Banning land clearing and stronger environmental laws are much more likely to work.
Some airlines are already experimenting with sustainable aviation fuel.
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Airlines are investing in sustainable biofuel startups and starting to uses alternative fuels, including cooking oil, ag waste and corn ethanol. But biofuels alone won’t be enough, research shows.
Activists press for climate change financing during COP27. Mohamed Abdel Hamid/Anadolu Agency via
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The safeguard mechanism is supposed to stop Australia’s largest polluters from emitting over a certain threshold. It’s been widely criticised for lacking teeth, and is finally under review.
New research finds nature restoration only marginally lowers global warming. This pours cold water on the idea of using carbon offsets to solve the climate crisis.
When trees burn, all the carbon they have stored goes back into the atmosphere.
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More carbon dioxide in the air doesn’t necessarily mean more growth for trees, and the increasing risk of wildfires and drought has major consequences, as an interactive map shows.