EU Plan To Plant 3 Billion Trees Barely Moving; "The Risks Of Greenwashing Are Endless"
And a reminder - 3 billion trees is 0.3% of the Trillion Tree "Plan".
When word got out that the European Commission was planning to include a commitment to planting three billion trees as part of President Ursula von der Leyen’s European Green Deal, environmental NGOs almost spat out their morning fair trade coffee. In terms of numbers alone, the pledge has raised eyebrows: three billion trees over ten years is three hundred million a year, or around 800,000 every day. When asked about the number of trees planted since May 2020, a spokesperson for the European Commission did not have figures, pointing instead to local counters maintained by some EU regions and member states.
One, a counter by the Belgian state of Flanders, showed 232,968 plantings since October 1, 2019. The other, from the Czech Republic, showed almost 800,000 new plantings but did not give a timeframe. “We are still working on this and are also considering options for counting, or common methodologies,” the spokesperson said.
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Then in February, even President Donald Trump - hardly the world’s most-renowned environmentalist - supported tree planting in his State of the Union address, supporting House Republicans’ so-called ‘Trillion Trees Act’. At the time, the move was described by Greenpeace as a “feel good” initiative that “lack[ed] real action to restore forests and expand clean energy”, which was “not only part of a dangerous distraction from the climate crisis, but represents logging industry greenwashing”.
Greenpeace has been similarly critical of the European Commission's three billion trees pledge, pointing out that, much like in the US, reforestation can distract from the real efforts to combat climate change. “The potential climate and biodiversity benefits to planting trees are limited, but the risks of greenwashing are endless," said Sini Eräjää, Greenpeace EU agriculture and forest campaigner. “Companies are quick to claim credit for the carbon stored in trees planted but reluctant to reduce emissions in the first place.
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https://www.euronews.com/2020/10/20/brussels-says-planting-three-billion-trees-will-help-save-the-planet-experts-aren-t-so-sur
