How much CO2 does a tree absorb? Let’s get carbon curious!

A tree absorbs approximately 25kg of CO₂ per year

We cheated and gave you the short answer first! It’s based on the estimate that a cubic metre of wood absorbs just under a ton of CO₂.

But really a tree absorbs anywhere between 10 and 40kg of CO₂ per year on average, depending on a whole host of factors. And it’s all those complex variables that make working out how much CO₂ a tree absorbs so interesting. So let’s start breaking it down. For fun!

A little word about calculating CO₂ before we start

We’ve developed our own scientific methodology to calculate the average absorption of our trees, verified by Bureau Veritas. We’ve done it to help you quantify your contribution towards global carbon neutrality and go on a bit about this in our Carbon Manifesto. But now that’s said, let’s get to it!

The chemical composition of wood

The chemical composition of wood doesn’t vary much from tree to tree. (Hooray, one thing that doesn’t change massively in all this!)

Cellulose (C₆H₁₀O₅)_n is the main component of the cell walls of trees. It’s a chain of glucose molecules that the tree produces through photosynthesis. We’ll look at how in a minute. Cellulose makes up 50-80% of wood.

50% carbon

42% oxygen

6% hydrogen

1% nitrogen

1% mineral matter

Photosynthesis is really cool

Photo

From the Greek
for « Light »

Synthesis

Greek for
« Putting together »

Step 1

Plants absorb water and minerals through their roots to make sap.

Step 2

The sap travels through the tree to the leaves. The leaves absorb CO₂ and light.

Step 3

The leaves use chlorophyll and the sun’s energy to convert CO₂ & water into glucose.

Step 4

Oxygen is released and the glucose nourishes the tree, transported by the sap.

Purifying the air as it grows
Amazingly, to grow by one cubic metre, a tree will purify nearly one million cubic metres of air of its CO₂ (assuming 0.03 to 0.04% of air is CO₂).¹ Trees are the best.

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How much water is there in a tree?

Depends! Mostly on the species of the tree, but also on the humidity of the air influenced by season and location. Trees contain three types of water; bound water in fibres, free water that’s released when they dry, and water of constitution that’s part of their molecular structure. 50% of a tree’s weight is water. But the moisture content of different living tree species can range from 60% to 200%, where there’s twice as much weight from water as there are wood fibres.

So living trees are really wet, when you think about it! And it’s vital to have moist, green trees in the forest, especially to prevent forest fires. These, as we all know, are devastating. An important reason why forest management is the future.

How to calculate the carbon in a tree

Now we know how much of a tree is water, we need to remove that from the equation. Because to calculate the carbon content of a tree, we need to know its dry mass. That’s its mass excluding the water.

Dry mass: 50% of the tree is the dry mass

Carbon: 47.5% of the dry matter of the tree consists of carbon³

Water: 50% of the tree is water (20% of that in the roots)

Now let’s work out how much CO₂ a tree absorbs

To do it, let’s use an example. We’ll imagine a 1000kg tree with 100% humidity. Now we know this tree is 500kg water and 500kg dry mass. And we know that 47.5% of that dry mass is carbon. That’s 237.5kg.

Thanks to molar mass ratios, we can break CO₂ down and find that it takes 3.67kg of CO₂ to create 1kg of carbon in the tree. That’s because carbon has a molar mass of 12 and oxygen 16. Combined as CO₂ that’s 44. And 44/12 = 3.67.

So for our tree example, 237.5 × 3.67 = 871.63kg of CO₂. Hooray! If we want to know how much it’s absorbed per year, we need to know the age. If it weighs a ton standing, we can guess it’s 30 to 40 years old. So if we assume it's 35 years old, this big boy absorbed 25kg of CO₂ per year.

1,000kg of wood

500kg of dry wood

237.5kg of carbon

871.63kg of CO₂ absorbed

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How the species of the tree affects CO₂ absorption

First off, the carbon storage capacity of a tree depends on its species, as their mass varies. You can really see that in these examples: Poplar (400kg/m³), Weymouth Pine (1000kg/m³) and Ebony (1400kg/m³). So this needs to be taken into account in any calculation.

All our trees are great at absorbing CO₂!

So our calculations are based on plausible estimates, averages and variations like soil, light, age and climate. But in the end, even though they absorb carbon dioxide at different rates and in different amounts, they’re all doing it! And it just shows the importance of mixing tree species and ages in a forest specifically adapted to its environment. This is the best way to reduce our carbon footprint and limit the impact of climate change. And it’s what we do with your trees in our EcoTree forests.

When do trees
absorb most CO₂?

Young trees or old trees? That is the question scientists are still debating. In their youth, trees grow faster so they absorb CO₂ quicker, but in their old age their density is much greater so they can absorb more CO₂, as this 2014 study in Nature demonstrates. As for our trees, the ones below will give you the most bang for your buck when it comes to CO₂ absorbed over their lifetimes.

A tree absorbs about 25 kg of C0₂ anually.

Our carbon capture calculations have been verified by world-renowned Bureau Veritas. So when you own a tree, you can track the carbon captured over its whole lifetime!

In the end, most of the figures put forward should be taken with great care, but they give an average range of 10 to 40kg of CO₂ absorbed per tree per year over a lifetime.

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¹ Vade-mecum du forester , p. 67, XIVth edition, 2016, Forestry Society of Franche-Comté and Eastern Provinces

² Patrick Vallet's thesis is titled Impact of different silvicultural strategies on the "carbon sink" function of forest stands. Modeling and simulation at the plot scale .

How much CO₂ does a tree absorb?

This big question has a big answer. So hold onto your thinking hats and come with EcoTree to explore it.

A tree absorbs approximately 25kg of CO₂ per year