You can’t grow money on trees, but you can earn money for letting trees grow. Or at least you can through a pioneering California program that allows forest owners around the United States to sell carbon credits to companies required by the state to reduce emissions. Researchers at Stanford analyzed the program and found that the initiative has valuable environmental benefits beyond just offsetting greenhouse gases.
“Many developing countries with large forests are interested in similar programs to avoid deforestation,” said lead author Christa Anderson, a graduate student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources at Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences. “California provides the first proof of concept with a government program that credits standing forests.”
Lead author Christa Anderson is a former EDGE-STEM mentor. Co-author Katharine Mach is a 2008 Presidential Fellow, Biology
