While engineers around the world race to build effective carbon capture technologies, there’s one simple tool we already have that can effectively sequester carbon from the atmosphere and clean up air pollution: trees. That’s why the UK government has announced funding to plant more than 130,000 trees in English towns and cities in the next two years as part of its efforts to fight climate change.
The plan, announced Sunday, will allow individuals, local governments, non-governmental organizations and charities to apply for grants from the Urban Tree Challenge Fund. As a challenge fund, the grants will match what the applicants themselves are able to offer for the planting of trees and continued care during their first three years of life. The initiative is part of a bigger government pledge to plant one million trees by 2022.
