Press

An analysis of national climate plans released today at the COP30 climate summit warns that countries are failing to carry out the core work required to reduce emissions by halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation, and are instead pushing carbon removal schemes, such as large-scale tree planting, to levels that are far beyond what’s achievable.

New data indicates that a short list of high-emitting, high-income nations are overly reliant on land use to offset their emissions, with researchers calling for COP28 negotiations to put greater pressure on countries to deliver quick and effective emissions reductions.

Countries favor risky tree planting schemes over protecting, restoring and sustainably managing the forests we already have standing, with research showing national carbon plans requiring a land area larger than the size of the U.S., or almost four times the land area of India.

Current climate pledges focus too much on land-based carbon sinks such as tree planting rather than food production and biodiversity, researchers from Australia, Denmark, Sweden and elsewhere said in a report on Tuesday.

National climate pledges would collectively require 1.2 billion hectares (about 3 billion acres) of land, researchers have found in a new study, The Land Gap Report. Read more at Mongabay.

Countries have promised 1.2bn hectares in total of new forests and restored land to help curb climate change. Read more at Financial Times