GMO Trees Are Sucking Carbon

January 21, 2023

GMO Trees Are Sucking Carbon

A climate biotech company raises $21 million to grow genetically engineered super trees. A team of scientists discovers a new technique to make recyclable plastics out of plant wastes. 

An activist group scrutinizes forest projects' emission reductions claim while a study shows that logged and degraded tropical forests are a net source of carbon emissions.

These interesting and controversial stories are all in this week's news arsenal. Let’s jump in!

The Era of Super Trees

Genetic engineering seems to be so common in today’s era of biotechnology.

And true enough, even trees are not exempted - introducing GMO super trees grown by Living Carbon. This climate biotech company seeks to improve the ability of trees to absorb carbon via photosynthesis enhancement. 

Living Carbon’s research shows that enhancing photosynthesis can boost biomass accumulation in trees by 53% more and they can capture up to 27% more CO2 than control plants.

The firm’s latest funding round led by Temasek, closed at $21 million, gave it more capital to produce 5 million super tree saplings and expand its work on bio-engineered climate solutions. 

Plastics From “Cooking” Plant Sugar

Plastic pollution is one of the most pressing environmental concerns we face. The good news is that scientists from Switzerland and Austria discovered a new alternative – PET-like recyclable plastics made from plants. 

By “cooking” the wood or other non-edible plant material in an inexpensive chemical they can produce plastic. This technique allows the sugar molecules from plant waste to act as plastic building blocks. 

In other words, the chemistry involved is much simpler than current alternatives. With it, scientists could convert 25% of the weight of plant waste (or 95% of purified sugar) into plastic. 

Verra's “Phantom” Credits 

Deforestation projects have been in the limelight recently, with climate activist groups scrutinizing their carbon reduction claim. And Verra’s REDD+ projects are one of their targets. 

A 9-month-long investigation led by The Guardian said that 90% of forest carbon credits certified by Verra are “largely worthless” and are “phantom credits''. Meaning, they don’t represent real emission reductions. 

Verra disputed the claim saying the findings are not true. That’s because the studies where the analysts based their conclusions use methods that don’t account for project-specific factors that cause deforestation.

And so, they miscalculated the impact of the deforestation projects, Verra said.

Not Your Typical Forest 

In a different study, findings revealed that logged and degraded tropical forests are a net source of carbon emissions for a decade, at least.

That means the CO2 they emit is more than what they absorb, contrary to popular belief.

People think that new young trees taking the place of logged ones suck in more CO2 than what’s lost in logging.

But the researchers said carbon sequestration is outweighed by the high emissions from soil organic matter and decaying wood. 

Carbon Fact of the Week

The carbon footprint of plastics has doubled since 1995, due mainly to growth in plastics production in coal-based economies. 

In 2015, plastics accounted for 4.5% of GHG emissions and 6% of global coal electricity is used to make plastics.

According to the World Economic Forum, only 9% of plastics has ever been recycled.

Emissions from plastics production and incineration could account for 56 gigatons of carbon by 2050 because the industry is projected to quadruple by that period.

That's 56 billion tons, or almost 50x the annual emissions of all of the coal power plants in the U.S. 

The American Chemistry Council says the U.S. industry aims to allot $47 billion on new alternative plastics-production capacity over the next decade.

Source: https://carboncredits.com/