Australian study shows that planted trees capture less CO₂

A report issued by the Australian National University shows that unspoiled natural forests capture more carbon than artificially planted trees. The report states that this fact wasn't considered when planning counteracting actions against global warming by the IPCC. However, according to our source article, the report didn't consider the capture capacity of relatively young trees, whereas the IPCC did. IPCC calculations considered a tree a plant over 2 meters with 110 percent diameter crown, whereas the Australian report considers a tree over 10 meters with 120 percent diameter crown. Regardless of the actual calculation methods, the Australian report calculated 1 hectare of wild unspoiled forest in the SE of the country could store 640 tons of CO₂ , whereas the same surface of artificially planted trees stored 217. Take also in consideration that planted trees are usually cut for the use of its wood regularly and new trees are planted afterwards. The result: 25 trees planted every 4 years store less carbon than 1 tree planted for 100 years.

[Source: Cesefor via Agroinformacion]