Ottawa’s ‘2 Billion Trees’ Plan Will Take Decades to Produce Emissions Benefits, Gov’t Official Says

A worker plants a tree near Princeton, B.C., in a file photo. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

Ottawa’s plan to tackle emissions by planting two billion trees will take decades to produce benefits,  a government official says.

“We had initial projections and we continue to calibrate those,” Glenn Hargrove, assistant deputy minister for Natural Resources Canada, told the Senate national finance committee on May 21.

“The major emissions reductions will be sort of toward 2050 as opposed to in the next few years,” he said, adding that younger trees absorb less carbon than mature trees.

“It’s sort of like human beings. Babies eat less food than teenagers,” Mr. Hargrove said, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter. “If you think of it that way, once those trees start to grow, that’s when they really start to absorb that carbon. That is a little way down the road before we start to see.”

The 2 Billion Trees (2BT) plan was a Liberal Party promise during the 2019 election campaign. The goal was to see the trees planted within 10 years.

Mr. Hargrove told the committee only 553 million trees have been planted thus far. That number includes seedlings that have been scheduled for planting this summer, he said.

“This is a major undertaking as you know,” Mr. Hargrove added. “We like to say it’s a marathon not a sprint. It is essentially a 40 percent increase in tree planting across Canada over a decade. We have been ramping up the supply chain.”

The deputy minister did not provide a date when the project will be complete.

“I can’t give an exact date on when the two billion trees will be planted exactly but I think we are making very strong progress,” he said. “We know there has to be a ramp-up.”

The program was expected to reach its goal by 2031, at a cost of $3.2 billion, which goes toward provinces, territories, and organizations who are willing to do the actual tree planting work.

According to the 2BT website, the program is part of Ottawa’s plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

“To maximize the benefits to Canadians, the right trees must be planted in the right place and monitored to ensure survival,” the webpage says, adding that benefits of the program include restoration of habitat, increased biodiversity, cleaner air and water, creating “green” jobs, cooler cities and “enhancing the well-being of Canadians for generations.”

The program has supported 179 tree-planting projects since 2021, according to a September 2023 news release. A minimum of 220 different tree species were reported to have been planted at more than 2,900 sites across the county.

An April 2023 report by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Jerry DeMarco said the program was not likely to be successful.

“Natural Resources Canada is unlikely to reach its 2 billion tree planting objective or achieve expected emission reductions unless significant changes are made,” a news release from the Auditor General’s Office said.

While Natural Resources reached its tree planting goal in 2021, it fell behind in 2022, the release said.

“Delays in signing agreements not only have significantly challenged Natural Resources Canada’s ability to plant the number of trees that it had estimated for 2022, but also will affect subsequent years, which have much more ambitious planting estimates. ”

Mr. DeMarco’s audit also found that even if the trees were successfully planted by 2031, the emissions reduction benefit would not occur “until much later.”