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Accounting for albedo change to identify climate-positive tree cover restoration

Published Article

Global

Publication date: March 26, 2024

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Restoring tree cover lowers surface albedo, often cancelling carbon‑removal benefits. New spatial data show carbon‑only estimates can be overstated by up to 81%. Net‑positive sites exist in all biomes, but most projects still face ≥20% offsets. Maximizing climate gains requires albedo‑aware planning.

Subject Tags

  • Climate mitigation
  • Forest
  • Carbon storage

Abstract

Restoring tree cover changes albedo, which is the fraction of sunlight reflected from the Earth’s surface. In most locations, these changes in albedo offset or even negate the carbon removal benefits with the latter leading to global warming. Previous efforts to quantify the global climate mitigation benefit of restoring tree cover have not accounted robustly for albedo given a lack of spatially explicit data. Here we produce maps that show that carbon-only estimates may be up to 81% too high. While dryland and boreal settings have especially severe albedo offsets, it is possible to find places that provide net-positive climate mitigation benefits in all biomes. We further find that on-the-ground projects are concentrated in these more climate-positive locations, but that the majority still face at least a 20% albedo offset. Thus, strategically deploying restoration of tree cover for maximum climate benefit requires accounting for albedo change and we provide the tools to do so.

Citation

Hasler, N., Williams, C.A., Denney, V.C., Ellis, P.W., Shrestha, S., Terasaki Hart, D.E., Wolff, N.H., Yeo, S., Crowther, T.W., Werden, L.K. and Cook-Patton, S.C., 2024. Accounting for albedo change to identify climate-positive tree cover restoration. Nature Communications, 15(1), p.2275. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46577-1

TNC Authors

  • Vanessa Carrasco Denney
    Climate Science Program Manager
    The Nature Conservancy
    Email: v.carrascodenney@tnc.org

  • Peter W. Ellis
    Director, Global Natural Climate Solutions Science
    The Nature Conservancy
    Email: pellis@tnc.org

  • Nicholas H. Wolff
    Global Director of Climate Science
    The Nature Conservancy
    Email: nicholas.wolff@tnc.org

  • Drew E. Terasaki Hart
    The Nature Conservancy
    Email: tboucher@tnc.org