Bioengineering: Forests bioengineered to capture more carbon will be planted in the US
A US start-up will soon begin planting genetically engineered trees in Georgia and Pennsylvania that may be able to capture more carbon than regular trees
Environment
30 January 2023
Poplar trees engineered to capture more carbon (left) compared with unmodified poplars (right) Living Carbon
Trees genetically engineered to grow faster and bigger will be planted on private land in Georgia and Pennsylvania by US firm Living Carbon starting early February. The company says its modified poplar and loblolly pine trees can capture more carbon than unmodified trees, but hasn’t yet demonstrated this outside a laboratory setting.
Maddie Hall, the company’s CEO, says 4 million to 5 million trees will be planted by the middle of 2024. Living Carbon plans to …
Source link In a fresh bid to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and help slow climate change, bioengineered forests have been planned by the US government.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that bioengineered forests – which have been genetically modified to capture more carbon and sequester it for longer periods of time – will be planted in the US.
The USDA will be working with private and public partners to create genetically modified trees that can capture and store more carbon dioxide than non-bioengineered trees in the same areas. The goal of this project is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, as it is a major contributor to global climate change.
The bioengineered trees will be created using revolutionary genetic engineering techniques, allowing scientists to modify the genetics of the trees to make them better able to absorb and store carbon dioxide. These trees will then be planted in areas with soil that is conducive to long-term carbon storage, such as forests and wetlands.
The US government believes that this effort to plant bioengineered forests will have a significant impact on carbon emissions. In addition, the use of bioengineered trees may potentially reduce the cost of carbon capture and storage, as the USDA estimates that it costs about ten times more to capture carbon from fossil fuels than from bioengineered trees.
This new effort is part of the US government’s broader efforts to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change. US President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order to re-join the Paris Agreement, which establishes standards for reducing global emissions, and his administration has announced plans to reduce emissions by 50-52% by the year 2030.
The use of bioengineered forests is just one of the steps that the US is taking to reduce its carbon footprint and combat climate change. With the goal of reducing carbon emissions and building a more sustainable future, the US government’s plans to plant bioengineered forests are certain to be watched closely.
