Meanwhile it’s a common offer to your flight ticket: the CO2 compensation fee, which promises that some trees will be planted somewhere by an more or less trustable project. But is this really sustainable? The trees grow, binding Co2, but they will die some day and decay, releasing more or less exactly the same amount of CO2 they bound during growing phase (with the slight exception of the ones falling into rivers and swamps and decay without oxygen).
So, after all, what’s the gain? A temporary CO2 sink – but without constant grow the effect won’t be lasting – except you pay for the promise to re-plant a new tree as soon as your donated tree lifetime expired.
But growth of course raises the next problem: At one point all possible areas for re-forestation are exhausted. Even if some studies suggest there’s quite a potential, it won’t be endless. So, there’s a limit to this indulgence.
It seems a better idea to grasp for new ideas to compensate CO2 emissions – and other chances as CO2 sink. Even if the fossil gas industry favors induction into exhausted gas reservoirs to re-monetize their investment in the concessions a second time, imagining a giant champagne-cork-like “Plopp” triggered e.g. by an earthquake or tectonic activities might lead to some discouragement – and sooner or later each balloon deflates and every cavern might get a tiny hole….
So, what are the remaining options? Current status of negative emission technologies (NET) shows the bets of some large investors like Bill Gates on the calcification process – extraction of CO2 and induction in Olivines and other basaltic minerals, which binds the CO2 chemically.
So, instead of planting trees: Empty a bottle of mineral water on the next basalt stone you find….(be sure to buy enough bottles to compensate for your next flight!)