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Planting Trees for CO2 Sequestration and Biodiversity
At our Kick-Off event we celebrated the official launch of Atmos together with members, EES staff, and the Faculty of Science and Engineering. Instead of popping a bottle of champagne together we decided to make a bigger impact and gift every guest a tree. A tree you wonder? Yes, a tree (or at least a sapling).
Other than being a nice gift, trees play an important role in the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The latest IPCC report includes urgent recommendations for reducing the emissions from greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. One solution is the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere via “reforestation and ecosystem restoration” methods along with similar natured-based activities. A single, mature tree can absorb roughly 25 kilos of carbon a year and make enough oxygen for 4 people to breathe fresh air. Additionally, trees offer shade and are the anchors for plant and wildlife biodiversity. [1] A previous IPCC report states that tree-planting can sequester 1.1 – 1.6 GT of CO2 per year. As Atmos we decided to take action and gift as many livings carbon-sequesters as possible.
Assuming that only 30% of all trees gifted during the kick-off survive to maturation, roughly 600 kg of CO2 will be sequestered per year. Should they survive 40 years of life, then Atmos would have been responsible for the sequestration of 24 tonnes of CO2 from a single activity! Imagine that we would do so for every activity…
[1] https://onetreeplanted.org/blogs/stories/trees-climate-change-reforestation
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