Why Trees Can Propel the Global Race to Net-Zero (and EUDR)

2024 – the year in which Earth’s temperatures ranked the warmest in the past 175 years, breaking world records like our Gold Medalists at the Paris Olympics. Temperatures were recorded at 1.29°C (2.32°F) above the 1901-2000 average of 13.5°C (56.2°F). There is a 59% chance, according to NCEI's statistical analysis, that 2024 will rank as the warmest year on record and a 100% chance that it will rank in the top five.

Climate change is not something that is about to happen to our future generations. It is happening right here right now. Scientists concur that GreenHouse Gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide (CO2) are warming our planet at alarming rates. They also concur that it is possible to achieve Net-Zero, as pledged by 196 global nations, by swiftly transforming the way we produce and consume energy.

While governments, industry and academia are trying to keep on track with their climate pledges through emissions tracking, standards, legislature and disclosures, clean energy solutions, supply chain decarbonization, and carbon offsetting, simple natural climate solutions like reforestation could yet be the holy grail to move the needle on climate change.

Trees remain the most efficient, cost-effective, accessible, and actionable solution for carbon removal & sequestering. So how do trees combat climate change?

Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air and store it in their roots, trunks and leaves, converting about 50% of their weight into carbon and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. Trees effectively trap carbon, reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. To summarize various research studies, it can be concluded that annual CO2 offsetting ranges from 21.77 kg CO2/tree to 31.5 kg CO2/tree. This means that one CO2 ton can be absorbed by 31 to 46 trees. But only when they remain planted!

When trees are cut down, burned or deforested, this stored carbon is released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, which contributes to climate change. It is, therefore, no surprise that there is a proliferation of tree planting and forest restoration initiatives including the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the World Economic Forum’s Trillion Trees Platform 1t.org, the Time for Trees initiative and others. Most recently, the European Union (EU), which has led the global climate action on Net-Zero, has introduced the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), aimed at curbing EU’s impact on global deforestation, forest degradation, GHG emissions, biodiversity and human rights protection, coming into force on 30th December 2024.

The EUDR encompasses full supply chain traceability and due diligence reporting on sourcing timber, palm oil, soy, cocoa, coffee, cattle, and rubber – which cause 90% of the world’s deforestation - not only to the commodities, but also to the derived products, affecting the entire downstream supply chain. It will impact not only the operators in the EU but also the suppliers exporting them into the EU market, companies transforming the commodities into products, and traders buying and reselling them. To learn more, prepare and comply with EUDR, download Finboot’s EUDR Playbook.

While companies operating in and selling to the EU are racing to adding traceability systems and processes to stay compliant and avoid penalties by December 2024; for the Corporate Sustainability Digiterati, planting trees and saving forests can become a competitive advantage for their businesses and customers they serve.

A case in point is The Green Button Project launched by MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics (MIT CTL) in 2019 which highlights that consumers are motivated to save trees and will prefer corporate practices that exhibit responsible behavior. The era of eCommerce and online shopping has increased consumer expectations from 5 days to 2 days to even same-day fulfillment. But fast shipping makes last-mile delivery environmentally costly. Dr Josue Velazquez Martinez, research scientist at MIT CTL and Director of MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab (I was fortunate to have taken his class), led an interesting research project in 2019. He ran a month-long simulation with 3 test groups of consumers to find out if they would wait a few days to receive their product (Willingness To Wait) if they were educated about the impact to climate change. The groups received information about environmental impact in terms of CO2, energy consumed, and trees saved respectively. The results were surprising.

“Explaining the impact in terms of trees led to almost 90 percent of consumers willing to wait another day or two, compared to less than 40 percent for the group that received the data in kilograms of CO2.” Dr Velazquez Martinez says that providing an option that says ‘same-day delivery is equivalent to killing 300 trees’ compared with one that says ‘if you wait three to four days, then it’s equivalent to killing 10 trees, and by the way we are going to plant 15,’ can really drive consumer behavior.

It is true governments and businesses have the biggest responsibility in the transition to net-zero emissions by mid-century. But as consumers, we wield unfettered power and accountability. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, we can be the change we want to see in the world. Given a single tree offsets about 20 kg (44 pounds) of carbon dioxide each year, individuals in the US emitting 17 tons of emissions each year will need to plant about 16 trees every year, to successfully offset their carbon footprint. So go hug trees and celebrate them. In noted author, Richard Mabey’s uncanny words: To be without trees would, in the most literal way, mean to be without our roots. And our roots are planet Earth.

Sunitha Ray is a digital technology transformation executive based in New York City. She is a member of MIT SCALE network, serves as an Alum Mentor for MITx Supply Chain MicroMasters Credential and is a global panelist for the MIT Technology Review. She serves as an Advisory Board member for Finboot, a UK based green supply chain company. Sunitha recently won #BT150 Top Digital Transformation 2025 executives from Constellation Research.

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