One popular scheme is to pay to have trees planted on your behalf somewhere in the world to offset any carbon you use.

The idea is that the trees create a carbon sink and absorb the CO2 as they grow.

But, for this to be a real solution, these new forests will need to be untouched forever. This really would be very difficult as forest fires, insect outbreaks, decay, logging, land use changes, or even the decline of forest ecosystems as a result of climate change could all release this newly stored CO2 very easily, and most of these are often beyond government control.

To date, more than 50% of the timber exported from Brazil, Indonesia and Cameroon has been logged illegally and forest fires in the US every year since 2000 shows that even technically advanced countries can often do little to prevent or stop forest destruction.

The creation of a carbon sink like this could even contribute to higher levels of CO2 in the long-term – the exact opposite of the intended effect. This solution may provide no more than a quick-fix.

A negative effect
Where trees are planted can also have a negative impact. New research presented to the American Geophysical Union suggests that the carbon reducing benefits of trees are outweighed by their tendency to trap heat close to the ground especially when they are planted in the normally snowy, higher latitudes.

This is because the trees are dark coloured. This means they will absorb more solar radiation than would otherwise be reflected and the area will warm up.

The same research also found that planting trees in the mid-latitude region where the US and the majority of European countries are would have virtually no effect on reducing carbon levels and climate change.

For trees to have an impact they need to be planted in the tropics. Here, trees successfully remove CO2 out of the atmosphere, and they help evaporate water causing cloud cover at just the right height to reflect incoming solar radiation back out. This causes a cooling effect.

Conclusion
In conclusion, carbon offsetting cannot be the end solution to global warming, nor should it be considered as a short-term fix, however, schemes such as tree planting do help to raise awareness and reduce the impact of CO2 production.

Instead, investment in renewable energies and promoting worldwide energy efficiency does have increasing value for the future. These can potentially last indefinitely and they could result in no further CO2 being emitted over what can be sustained.

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