There are many aspects to tackling climate change. One that is of growing interest is forestry and timber. Did you know that some of the specimen trees in Fernhill Park, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Council has labelled the amount of carbon they store. A very fine Giant Redwood there has sequestered 7.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent to over half the average annual emissions per person of greenhouse gases in Ireland. It has, however, taken over 100 years for this tree to reach maturity.
This example of what a single tree can absorb, albeit a particularly large one, illustrates the potential that afforestation offers to tackle climate change. The agreement at Cop26 to tackle deforestation, however loose it may be, reflects the important capacity of trees to offset fossil fuel emissions.