Last week one day, I received an email from one of the leading corporates mentioning their ESG activities, in other words how they have contributed to the sustainability of the environment. It got me intrigued and made me read the complete report. It was pretty impressive overall. However, the eye catching statistics was about planting a few lakhs of trees thereby helping the green cover. That made me happy but at the same time got me thinking.

Was planting trees a solution to the Carbon Emission?

If so wasn’t it the easiest of all activities in the list of sustainable actions? Is planting alone enough? What happens once planted? Does the corporate take care about the same? How many trees sustain and grow into full blown green cover?

Take it back to EVS classes that we studied, we always knew Plants absorb CO2 and releases Oxygen. That is basic science, but does it only release Oxygen, what happens to Carbon Dioxide. A small research lead me to interesting facts. Trees do release carbon dioxide as part of their respiration and also when they die and decay. Add to the fact a tree absorbs roughly 40-50 kgs of Carbon Dioxide a year.

This implies that we need at least 10-15 trees to absorb the carbon dioxide released by a human per year.Add to this only 60% of the planted saplings stand a chance to grow into full grown trees. Now imagine the requirement to cover the entire population.

Does this mean there is no point planting trees?

Absolutely no, planting of trees is as essential as any of the other elements present like Oxygen, water, food. It helps replenish the Oxygen content in the atmosphere and provides the necessary green cover acting as a soil binding factor and home to millions of species. What I mean is that just by planting trees, one should not be satisfied that the carbon emission set off has been achieved. It should go beyond. 

In nutshell, we definitely should plant more trees and increase the green cover but one should also have the larger picture in mind.