Carbon Sequestration:Forest

Yes, we need to remove carbon from atmosphere. We have already pumped too much already. The question is of course HOW.

Fritz Scholz and Ulrich Hasse from the University of Greifswald introduce a possible approach to a solution: deliberately planted forests bind the CO2 through photosynthesis and are then removed from the global CO2 cycle by burial.

Here is some numbers:
1. Current world carbon emission is 32 gigatons of CO₂.
2. Fritz and Ulrich estimated that the world needs about 1 sq km of forest [my notes: world's Irrigated land in 2003 is 2,770,980 sq km]
3. "This project could be financed by an additional tax of 0.11 € per liter of gasoline or 0.003 € per kilowatt-hour of electricity." I don't know how this figure is arrived. From Wikipedia, the 2004 worldwidth energy consumption is 5x10²⁰ Joules or 1.4x10¹⁴kilowatt-hour. That would represent a value of US$644B.

"The forests should be planted in countries that are suitable for growing forest and also have the necessary sites for burial of the wood," stresses Scholz. "Other countries, the primary consumers of fossil fuels, can pay them for it. This would produce a global trade that would benefit everyone involved."

This is a market a lot of big companies will be interested in.