Overview

• The world’s 200 largest coal, oil and gas companies hold reserves containing 182 gigatons of carbon, equivalent to 673 gigatons of CO2 if burned
• Afforesting an area larger than North America could sequester about 590 gigatons of CO2 but still fall short of offsetting those emissions
• Accounting for tree-planting costs would leave most fossil fuel firms with negative market valuations, making halting extraction more economical than compensation
• The thought-experiment study warns that planted forests are vulnerable to extreme weather events and variability in water and nutrient availability
• Despite the 2023 Dubai agreement to phase out coal, oil and gas, companies continue to list extensive fossil reserves as assets, indicating plans to keep extracting