Urban forests’ potential to supply marketable carbon emission offsets: A survey of municipal governments in the United States

Arborists, urban foresters, and others involved in the management of urban trees in the United States were surveyed to better understand the feasibility of and level of interest in using tree planting projects to generate carbon offset credits. Questions ascertained the respondents’ (and their municipalities’) technical and managerial capacity to undertake such projects, any existing climate change mitigation activities, and factors associated with a willingness to participate in an offset program, such as awareness of the carbon storage capacity of trees and of carbon markets, education level of city residents, cost of living, etc. The results showed that the capacity to participate in carbon markets was generally present, but that there was a significant lack of knowledge about carbon sequestration itself and about the existence of carbon offset exchanges.