Trees are renowned for their ability to absorb CO2, and forests play an essential role in the fight against global warming by absorbing a significant proportion of the carbon produced by human activities.
They also absorb solar radiation more efficiently than other types of material, hence the growing number of initiatives to plant trees to combat global warming, particularly in urban areas. Through the process of photosynthesis, trees absorb sunlight, CO2 and water, producing energy in the form of glucose and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. Three tree species, in particular, stand out for their ability to absorb CO2: paulownia, pine and oak.
The paulownia, a tree native to Asia, absorbs ten times more carbon dioxide and generates four times more oxygen than any other tree. Its performance is mainly due to its extremely rapid growth, with paulownias reaching their adult height of between ten and twenty-five meters in just five years. They are also able to clean the ground around them by absorbing a large amount of dust, but because of their very rapid growth, some experts consider paulownia to be an invasive tree.
The second category of tree known to be capable of absorbing large quantities of CO2 is the pine, a species more common in Europe and America. They are considered natural carbon sinks, in particular Scots pine and Landes pine, which are very common in certain European countries such as France, but especially Ponderosa pine, which is very common in the western United States and Canada.
The third category of the tree is the oak, which, thanks to its broad crown and dense wood, has a great capacity to absorb CO2. In addition to these three tree species, scientists have also identified the birch, which can play an important role in soil decontamination.
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