20. Nature paradox

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Let's explore the Nature Paradox, a riddle wrapped in bark and rooted in the soil of the mid-1970s, when scientists first asked if we could use trees to slow climate change.

The premise sounds simple. Trees grow, and as they do, they inhale carbon, exhale oxygen, and store carbon. If you plant new trees, you’re absorbing carbon in the tree and in the soil. 

But trees don’t grow forever. At some point, forests mature and no longer absorb carbon.

Carbon credits for afforestation and reforestation are only issued while the trees are growing and actively removing more carbon than they emit. You don’t get credits for storing the carbon after that. 

Once a forest is fully grown, carbon funding for ongoing management dries up—unless you can demonstrate that the forest is at risk of being cut down.  In such cases, you could claim carbon credits for “avoiding deforestation”.

This creates a troubling paradox: to secure ongoing financial support through carbon credits, a mature forest must be at risk of deforestation. Yet the goal of forest restoration is to eliminate that very risk!

How do we resolve this paradox? Should carbon credits even be the tool we rely on for nature conservation and restoration? Or is it time to rethink our approach? Could a new mechanism—perhaps a “conservation credit”—better align with the realities of nature’s permanence, rewarding the ongoing protection of ecosystems regardless of carbon flux? But then again, carbon credits are thus far the only climate finance tool that ever reached scale – how to use this instrument in the best way to boost nature-based solutions?

In this series, two leading authorities in carbon uncover the secrets and contradictions of an entire industry – in the most fun and engaging way. Through 32 curated Carbon Paradoxes, you'll learn everything essential about this field, starting with the tensions we must address to make environmental markets thrive.

This article is also published on carbonparadox.org. illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.