Growing trees to sequester carbon in the UK: answers to some common questions

Abstract

There is increasingly convincing evidence that the earth is getting warmer (Mann et al., 1998) and that future warming could have effects on the climate system which will seriously affect human affairs (Mitchell and Johns, 1997). Climatic change is now firmly on the environmental agenda of the UK Government, with commitments under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC, along with 173 other countries) to stabilize greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a level which will not ‘dangerously’ affect the earth’s climate system. The first step towards achieving a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions was taken in Kyoto in December 1997, when 36 nations (the Annex I countries) agreed an overall 5.2 per cent reduction in emissions from 1990 levels by 2008–2012. The Kyoto Protocol is, however, very limited: (1) if implemented, it will reduce warming in 2010 by only about 8 per cent below business-as-usual (Wigley, 1998), (2) it places no restrictions on emissions from non-Annex I (mostly developing) countries, (3) implementation will be difficult without ratification by the USA, and (4) there is skepticism whether the 5.2 per cent target will be met, given that emissions in the USA and Japan rose by 5 per cent between 1990 and 1996. Nevertheless, it is a serious attempt to address the issue and has opened the way for further discussion. In order to get agreement at Kyoto, four factors were included in the Protocol, which are Growing trees to sequester carbon in the UK: answers to some common questions