A survey by nature-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) developer Arbonics showed that 80% of landowners across six different European countries are interested in using their land for afforestation as a way to unlock an additional income source.
Survey results showed that 67% of participants are primarily motivated by financial gains when considering carbon market participation. Environmental impact (24%) and other reasons like community benefits (9%) were also stated among the answers.
Canvassing 238 landowners from Ireland, France, Lithuania, Sweden, Austria, and Poland, the poll indicated that 84% of landowners haven’t had their lands evaluated for carbon removal prospects.
Additionally, the assessment revealed that when asked to evaluate their carbon market expertise, landowners ranked their understanding at an average 2.8 out of 10. Sweden is the only country that indicated an average score of 4 out of 10.
Besides knowledge gaps, upfront investment is another factor that stands in the way of bolder afforestation activity.
The funds that would go towards planting new trees and managing new forests are projected to start at around €2000/ha, an amount that many family landowners find burdensome and slow to yield profit, as timber activities can take between 50 and 100 years to materialize.
Within its borders, Europe is said to have more than 14 million hectares of land that are suitable for afforestation.
As explained by Arbonics, even if only abandoned or poor agricultural quality land was afforested, which would cover an area estimated to be in the region of 1.1M hectares, this effort would capture as much as 9.3M tonnes of CO2 annually, an amount that would balance the emissions of 1.5 million people.
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Acknowledging this vast potential, Arbonics calls for stronger support for landowners to venture into afforestation. Co-founder Lisett Luik explained, “Supporting smaller landowners at scale is one of the most effective ways to accelerate afforestation and carbon removal. We need to meet them where they are at, with clear economic incentives, simple tools, and long-term support.”
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