How many trees need to be planted in order to offset my emissions?
The number of trees required to offset your CO^₂ emissions resulting from various forms of travel can be worked out easily by using our ‘Emissions Calculator’. In order to calculate the emissions produced by car travel, the ‘average’ car is used. Someone driving 16,000 km per year in their petrol engine car will have to annually offset 3 tonnes CO^₂. As the average person drives for 40 years, a total of 120 tonnes of CO^₂ will be produced. With an absorption capacity of 6 tonnes per hectare per year, half a hectare (that is two and half football fields) of European forest is required to absorb these emissions. A diesel car needs 0.4 hectares and an LPG powered car 0.35 hectares. Here in the Netherlands we plant an average of 5500 trees per hectare to create forest whereas in a damaged rainforest in Uganda this is reduced to 500 trees per hectare.