As federal policymakers craft a plan to grow the U.S. economy and address the climate crisis by rebuilding the country’s infrastructure, the United States Congress has a unique opportunity to invest in some of the most important natural infrastructure there is: trees.

Restoring trees to the landscape is最大的近期机会以所需的规模从空中清除二氧化碳,以帮助满足该国的ambitious climate goals。WRI的研究发现,在其上限潜力下,在美国的树木修复(包括造林,补货降解的森林和农林业)可能会删除5.4亿吨每年从空中到2050年的二氧化碳的平均成本。通过树木修复的碳去除成本少于每吨CO的$ 102,使其成为当今可用的最具成本效益的碳清除策略之一。

However, capitalizing on this potential will require a sustained 20-year federal investment of $4–4.5 billion per year. The 20-year total from that investment would be comparable to the在化石燃料上花费的联邦资金数量仅在2020年。这种在树木修复上的支出也可以提供数千个工作,数十亿在农村社区的经济增长中many more jobs per dollar spent比化石依赖燃料的行业,并作为multitrillion dollar infrastructure proposal目前正在讨论。

树木在美国印第安纳州诺布尔斯维尔(Noblesville)改变颜色。
树木在美国印第安纳州诺布尔斯维尔(Noblesville)改变颜色。Photo by Steven Van Elk

Tree Restoration, the American Jobs Plan, and Legislative Proposals

President Biden’s美国工作计划建议对各种形式的基础设施进行投资,以便在冠状病毒大流行的经济影响下更好地建立后退,并解决气候危机。必威官网是真的吗这包括对弹性基础设施的500亿美元投资,包括恢复和保护基于自然的基础设施 - 土地,森林,湿地等。

Also included in the American Jobs Plan is a $10 billion investment in the Civilian Climate Corps, which builds on a previousexecutive order开发一个计划,以创建与一系列环境优先事项相关的可访问,优质的工作 - 从保护公共土地和水域到环境正义等。在最近宣布的《美国》竞选活动中,进一步强调了拜登政府通过恢复和韧性致力于创造就业机会的承诺,该运动旨在在2030年到2030年保护美国土地,水域和海洋的30%。

现在由国会颁布拜登提议的自然投资。

树木修复是自然基础设施的一部分,它是合作的成熟:90%的美国人在全球范围内种植大约一万亿棵树,以吸收大气中的碳排放,共和党和民主党立法者都已经发布了投资树木的建议。

但是,在所有新闻稿和认可之间,很难评估这些立法提案如何相互竞争,以及彼此之间如何满足对树木修复的联邦投资的需求。

这是我们最近提出的七项建议,旨在将树木恢复到美国的景观:

1。《气候管必威官网是真的吗理法》would provide tens of billions of dollars in new funding for federal programs that provide financial incentives for voluntary adoption of conservation practices — including tree planting — on private non-industrial land. This includes expanding U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) incentive and cost-share programs, such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), with priority given to projects that implement climate stewardship practices such as tree planting or agroforestry.

对私人土地所有者的财务和技术支持的巨大扩展将加速私人土地上的树木修复的步伐,创造就业机会并增强土壤健康,除了从空中清除碳。

该法案还包括指令和对联邦土地造林的相应拨款,并在部落,州和地方土地上建立了一个城市林业的赠款计划和造林。这些造林计划可能仅在城市社区中种植了超过1亿棵树,优先考虑了低收入社区和有色人种。

《气候管必威官网是真的吗理法》also establishes a “Stewardship Corps” to carry out activities in the bill and provides youth — and particularly youth from tribal communities, low-income communities, or communities of color — job training in the forestry and restoration sectors. This would help to address the need for扩大的劳动力发展以大规模启用树木修复。

Considering all these provisions and more, the Climate Stewardship Act is an ambitious, expansive bill that addresses tree restoration and other natural climate solutions at the scale needed to help put the U.S. on a path toward net-zero emissions by 2050.

卡罗琳·佩克(Carolyn Peck)和她的儿子加里·拉米(Gary Lamey)与NRCS合作制定了一项森林管理计划,以减少蒙大拿州利比(Libby)附近的房产中的火灾危险。
Private landowners near Libby, Montana work with the USDA to develop a forest management plan that reduces fire hazards by thinning trees and removing lower branches. Photo by USDA NRCS Montana/Flickr

2。维修现有的公共土地通过添加必要的树木(重新种植)法提议删除当前的重新造林信托基金的上限,该基金成立于1980年,旨在在自然干扰后在国家森林中种植树木。如果没有额外的纳税人资金,这将使每年平均可在联邦土地上可造林。两党重种行法可以解决联邦土地上200万英亩的重新造林积压中的很大一部分,使其成为priorityfor Congress.

但是,重新种植本身还不足以利用碳固定,从树木修复中创造工作的潜力:根据造林中心,私人土地包含的重新造林机会是美国在美国的其他立法(例如《气候管理法》)的十倍以加速在私人土地上的树木修复。必威官网是真的吗

3。万亿棵树和天然碳储存法由两党参议员群引入的,将设定目标,以增加美国森林,草原,湿地和沿海栖息地的去除,指导机构在这些生态系统中量化和监测碳。为了解决大规模重新造林所必需的幼苗赤字,该立法致力于调查和扩大该国的托儿所生产幼苗的资金,同时支持研究以提高对收获木产品的碳影响的了解。

该法案还将通过指示联邦机构在其国际援助工作中优先考虑保护和恢复计划必威官网是真的吗,并鼓励美国援助资金的接受者制定和实施对生态系统健康和恢复优先级优先级的土地使用计划,从而提高美国气候领导力。

值得注意的是,这项立法没有提供实现雄心勃勃的碳清除目标所需的联邦投资水平。但是,它将建立一个彻底的框架,以在国内和全球范围内在以气候为中心的树木修复运动中支持未来的联邦和私人投资。必威官网是真的吗因此,数万亿棵树和天然碳储存法代表了国会面前的树木修复的两党提案之一。

4。万亿棵树法2021年4月在房屋中重新引入了这一点版本introduced in the previous Congress, which WRI projected would have增加温室气体排放。重新引入的数万亿棵树法案中的一些新规定与参议院的数万亿棵树和天然碳储存法相呼应,包括在美国森林中设定碳去除目标的措施并投资于树木托儿所。像《补日法》一样,该法案将扩大造林信托基金以加速在联邦森林土地上种植。它还将指示美国森林服务局加强国家森林清单使用遥感数据。

为了满足美国的造林需求,需要提供支持,以扩大足够的种子,基础设施和劳动力的托儿所,例如这位学生培训生,检查为防风雨开发的幼苗。
为了满足美国的造林需求,需要提供支持,以扩大足够的种子,基础设施和劳动力的托儿所,例如这位学生培训生,检查为防风雨开发的幼苗。USDA NRCS蒙大拿州/Flickr的照片

但是,《万亿棵树法案》中的其他规定已提取关心怀疑论来自环境社区。These provisions — which include changes to environmental impact review processes for forest management on public lands, limits on future funding for urban forestry, and tax credits for using more wood in buildings that fail to protect carbon stored in forest ecosystems — would not advance the bill’s stated objective to address climate change by conserving, restoring and growing one trillion trees worldwide.

To pass legislation in line with the spirit of the Trillion Trees initiative, the House and Senate will need to come to consensus on a single proposal or reconcile and negotiate the significant differences between the House’s Trillion Trees Act and the Senate’s Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act. In doing so, lawmakers should ensure that every provision within the final bill supports tree restoration alongside conservation and other working land strategies in a manner that is ambitious, science-based and ecologically sound.

5。《农村森林市场法》将提供高达1.5亿美元的保证贷款,以资助使农村私人森林所有者能够参与碳和其他环境福利的市场。对农村森林所有者的这种财政支持可以利用私人财务在碳市场范围内加速树木修复和森林保护。但是,必须通过直接的联邦投资来补充这种资金,以恢复不符合通过这项法案融资的联邦,州,地方或部落土地上的树木。

6。The Growing Climate Solutions Act还致力于通过在USDA创建温室气体技术援助提供商和第三方验证者认证计划来扩大对碳市场的访问。该计划将帮助私人土地所有者找到专家和信息,以帮助他们参与碳市场。

This legislation, and its contribution to facilitating voluntary carbon markets, would be most effective if paired with a federal investment program that addresses the economic barriers many landowners face in restoring trees to their land or implementing other natural climate solutions. Without addressing these economic barriers head-on, legislation is likely to have limited benefits for reducing net GHG emissions from forestry and agriculture.

7.拨款现有计划:最后,增加联邦对支持树木修复和保护的计划的拨款可以利用大规模的机会来加速碳去除碳,并通过将树木恢复到景观中来刺激农村经济。

相关计划包括:

  • 美国农业部保护计划,例如环境质量激励计划,保护储备计划和农业保护地役权计划,这些计划可以激励私人土地所有者种植树木并维护森林。

  • U.S. Forest Service’s State and Private Forestry programs, including Urban and Community Forestry, Landscape Scale Restoration, and Cooperative Forest Health Management, which can accelerate tree restoration on non-federal lands.

  • 美国森林服务局的危险燃料计划和内政部Wildland Fire办公室为燃烧和机械治疗提供了规定的,以降低联邦土地上野火的风险,从而保护联邦森林并减少未来的温室气体排放。

  • 美国森林服务计划,包括森林健康管理计划,植被和流域管理计划以及协作森林景观恢复计划,该计划可以帮助补货受害虫,疾病或其他干扰影响的联邦森林,并恢复森林生态系统。

Comparison of U.S. Tree Restoration Policy Proposals

提议

领导参议院赞助商

领先的房屋赞助商

重点

Lands Covered

联邦资金($$$$)

必威官网是真的吗气候管理法

布克(D-NJ)

Spanberger(D-VA)

联邦激励措施和赠款计划,弱势社区的工作

私人,州/地方,部落,联邦

$$$$

补种

Stabenow(D-MI),Portman(R-OH)

Panetta(D-CA),Simpson(R-ID)

Federal Reforestation Trust Fund

Federal only

$$

Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act

COONS(D-DE),Braun(R-in)

N/A。

National carbon storage targets, ecosystem carbon monitoring, nursery expansion, loan guarantees for carbon market projects, international cooperation

私人,州/地方,部落,联邦

$*

万亿棵树的行为

N/A。

韦斯特曼(R-AR),麦卡锡(R-CA),汤普森(R-PA)

国家碳存储目标,联邦造林信托基金,托儿所扩张,木材使用激励措施

私人,州/地方,部落,联邦

$$

农村森林市场法

Stabenow(D-MI),Braun(R-in)

N/A。

碳市场项目的贷款担保

仅私人

0*

增长的气候解决方必威官网是真的吗案法

Stabenow(D-MI),Braun(R-in)

Spanberger(D-VA),培根(R-NE)

碳市场验证器和技术援助

仅私人

0

传奇

$ = <$100M
$$ = $ 1- $ 5亿美元
$$$ = $500M-$1B
$$$$ => $ 1B

*提供贷款担保(不计为直接联邦资金)

联邦投资树木修复的其他选择

While the proposals outlined above are collectively expansive, there are still other options for federal investment in tree restoration that have yet to be introduced as legislation.

例如,建立一个建议树木修复的联邦税收抵免could have a significant benefit as a complement to current programs, and has been认可通过森林气候工作组的各种林业和保护利益相关者。必威官网是真的吗很像45Q信用, which provides incentives for carbon removed by technologies like direct air capture, and the investment and production tax credits that support再生能源,税收抵免将减少土地所有者的树木修复成本,使他们能够从大气中清除更多的碳。

Regardless of the policy mechanism pursued, one thing is clear: any infrastructure package that Congress considers must include strong federal investment in trees as a key component of the national strategy to both address global climate change and rebuild local economies.