Calculate how many trees are needed to absorb a given quantity of CO2.
Offsetting a single person’s emissions needs several hundred trees, and they only reach full absorption after a decade or more. That delay is why tree planting cannot offset present emissions immediately. Tree offsets are also reversible through fire, disease or felling, which is why permanence is the central question in forestry-based carbon credits.
Tree Carbon Offset
Trees = emissions in kg ÷ absorption per tree per year, adjusted for survival rate
Trees = emissions in kg ÷ absorption per tree per year, adjusted for survival rate Offsetting a single person’s emissions needs several hundred trees, and they only reach full absorption after a decade or more. That delay is why tree planting cannot offset present emissions immediately.
Tree offsets are also reversible through fire, disease or felling, which is why permanence is the central question in forestry-based carbon credits.
This calculator takes 4 inputs: Annual emissions to offset, CO2 absorbed per tree per year, Years until trees reach that absorption rate, Tree survival rate. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.