Communities across the United States are increasingly impacted by climate-related disasters such as wildfires, megastorms, floods, and extreme heatwaves, the latter now causing more deaths than any other weather-related event. These events are exacerbated by rising global temperatures, driven in large part by carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. Carbon sequestration by trees—nature’s solution for capturing and storing CO₂—plays a crucial role in mitigating these climate impacts. Forests act as carbon sinks, absorbing enough CO₂ to offset approximately 12% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
However, forest carbon sequestration is under threat. From 1990 to 2018, carbon sequestration rates declined by 7%, largely due to the loss of forestland and management practices focused on short-term gains. The U.S. loses 6,000 acres of open space each day, much of it in forestland.2 Moreover, many working forests are managed on rotation cycles that prioritize short-term financial return over carbon capture and ecosystem health.
While carbon markets were developed to incentivize carbon storage, their effectiveness has been limited by issues like low valuation, transparency and trust concerns, and the risk of double counting. To address these limitations, new approaches are essential to maintain resilient, productive, and sustainable forests.

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