What is the survival rate for the trees?
According to the organizations who directly supervise the plantings, it’s around 70% after the first year – which is the crucial year. It’s important to bear in mind that carbon sequestration rates in trees can vary greatly – trees can die, be chopped down or destroyed by fire before they’ve reached their full carbon storage estimate. It’s for that reason that the carbon dioxide emissions calculator we use bases the tree offset figure of 5:1; i.e. 5 trees should be planted to help ensure that at least one achieves full carbon sequestration potential, or combined they reach that potential. Some of the trees are continuously, and sustainably harvested. The people these projects benefit are extremely poor and need the sustained benefit their trees provide; for uses such as building homes and fences. When used for building, the wood from the trees continues to store the carbon and it’s usually many years before the tree is old enough for these purposes. At the same time, the tree populatio
