Reforestation --- Bending The Climate Curve

According to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world will exceed thresholds of irreversible climate change by as soon as 2035 when the global mean temperature is predicted to be +1.5°C higher than in preindustrial times.

Global temperatures are projected to keep rising, reaching +2°C by 2050. This is the maximum temperature target agreed upon under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, selected intentionally to “avoid dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate.” 

C2I, a Leader in Conservation Capitalism, engaged with the environmental sustainability services consultancy team at SCS Global Services in order to understand what actions are required to keep the world below +2°C, and what role sustainable reforestation can play in “Bending The Climate Curve.”

“As the science has become clear on the near term thresholds, we in the business community need to understand the scale of the challenge,” said Jerry Van Voorhis, President and CEO of C2I, LLC. “We are seeing the convergence of science, urgency and the need for a scaled response.”

“The world needs scalable solutions now, not tomorrow, but today. Man has understood how to grow forests for hundreds of years. There are no technology or invention risks,” says Carey Crane, Founding Partner at C2I. “While the world looks to invent mechanical solutions, forests can play a major role in both reducing meaningful levels of carbon while buying time for human ingenuity to address our mechanical emissions.”

“In order to achieve these CO2 emissions reductions, there is clearly a need not only for massive changes in worldwide energy systems, but also global escalation in the scale of carbon dioxide removal projects,” said Tobias Schultz of SCS Global Services. “In fact, in the report released by the American National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on February 10 of this year, the NAS concluded that reforestation is a low risk and deployable technology that is well understood. “

The study concludes that Afforestation and Reforestation (AR) and Improved Forest Management (IFM), can play a significant role in Bending the Climate Curve. The highlights of the study are as follows:

• If AR and IFM projects were scaled up to their hypothetical maximum, up to 5.5 billion tons of CO2 could be sequestered each year, equivalent to 15% of current global CO2 emissions.
• If this level of AR and IFM projects were brought to scale by 2020 and maintained, it could help achieve as much as 25% of the needed net reductions in CO2 emissions globally by 2050.
• The Study concludes that should scale of AR and IFM be realized, the result would be an absolute reduction of 0.2°C by 2100.

“Simply put, forests can Bend the Climate Curve by 10% and in turn, improve things like water,” said Jerry Van Voorhis. “After all, 50-60% of all clean water comes from forested ecosystems. Our GreenTrees reforestation program has taken a river system approach that can be customized and replicated in any river system in the world. We have demonstrated the beginnings of scale in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley with nearly 100,000 acres of reforestation under management, comprised of 350+ private landowner partners. To date, we have transacted over 2 million tons to leading corporations such as Duke Energy, Norfolk Southern Railways, United Airlines and others. We are poised to replicate our approach in other river systems both here in the US and around the world.”

The Go Zero project at Mingo NWR was verified by SCS Global Services under its SCS Greenhouse Gas Verification Program.  

For Further Information Please Contact:

Chandler Van Voorhis Managing Partner                                                      

Email: [email protected]