forests

94% of Forest-Based Carbon Offsets Certified By Leading Global Provider Are ‘Phantom Credits,’ Major Investigation Finds

94% of Forest-Based Carbon Offsets Certified By Leading Global Provider Are ‘Phantom Credits,’ Major Investigation Finds

A new investigation from The Guardian, Die Zeit and SourceMaterial leads heavily towards the latter conclusion. The report, published Wednesday, found that more than 90 percent of the rainforest offset credits offered by top carbon standard Verra are actually what The Guardian called “phandom credits” that don’t actually remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

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    Is Wood the Climate-Friendly Urban Building Material of the Future?

    Is Wood the Climate-Friendly Urban Building Material of the Future?

    One of the challenges urban planners face as they attempt to fashion climate-friendly cities is how to construct new buildings. Common materials steel and cement are notoriously difficult to decarbonize, yet the number of people living in cities could increase to 80 percent of the total population by 2100, potentially requiring more new construction between […]

    Protect This Place: Italy’s World Heritage Beech Forests

    Protect This Place: Italy’s World Heritage Beech Forests

    By Olivia Box The Place Nestled at the very edge of the toe of mainland Italy you’ll find Aspromonte National Park, one of the wildest places in Italy. It sits at the end of the Apennines, which start just below the western Alps and run through central Italy to the toe of the country’s “boot.” […]

    Global Forest Area Declined by 60% Since 1960, Study Finds

    Global Forest Area Declined by 60% Since 1960, Study Finds

    A new study has found an alarming loss in forest areas globally, including that global forest area per capita has dropped from 1.4 hectares in 1960 to just 0.5 hectares per person by 2019, a 60% decline. The research, lead by Ronald Estoque from the Center for Biodiversity and Climate Change, Forestry and Forest Products […]

    Ancient Forest Found Growing Out of Giant Sinkhole in China

    Ancient Forest Found Growing Out of Giant Sinkhole in China

    At the bottom of a 630-foot sinkhole in China lies a green surprise: an ancient forest with trees stretching nearly 130 feet out of the depths. The unusual sinkhole was first discovered by cave explorers in China’s southern Guangxi region, who alerted scientists to their find, according to The Guardian. After confirming the forest’s existence, researchers […]

    Beyond Carbon Storage: New Study Highlights Other Ways Forests Keep Us Cool

    Beyond Carbon Storage: New Study Highlights Other Ways Forests Keep Us Cool

    If all of the world’s forests disappeared tomorrow, how much hotter would the world be?  A first-of-its-kind study published in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change Thursday found that the world’s forests keep the planet around 0.5 degrees Celsius cooler than it would be otherwise. That 0.5 degrees is the same crucial difference between two […]