Investing in U.S. forests to mitigate climate change

Investing in U.S. forests to mitigate climate change | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Investing in U.S. forests to mitigate climate change Alice Favero, Justin Baker, Brent Sohngen, Adam Daigneault, Chris Wade, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4497684/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 10 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in Carbon Balance and Management → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In the recent years several U.S. federal policies have been adopted to support forest-based climate mitigation actions. This study focuses on current federal funds allocated to forest for climate change mitigation activities to assess of much they could deliver in terms of net sequestration under a best-case (optimized) scenario in which the cheapest abatement options are implemented first and if these funds are in line to domestic targets for 2030 and 2050. Multiple investments pathways are tested under two different assumptions on CO 2 fertilization to provide a range of future mitigation projections from forests. Results show that under annual investments in line with current federal funds (around $ 640 million), the expected carbon flux of U.S. forests is around 770 MtCO 2 /yr in 2030 (+ 13% increase from baseline) and 800–880 MtCO 2 /yr in 2050 (+ 10% increase from baseline). When CO 2 fertilization is accounted for, the projections of forest carbon sequestration increase by more than 30% with almost 1 GtCO 2 sequestration achieved under federal funds in 2030, increasing the likelihood of meeting both short-term and long-term domestic targets. Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files GTMInvestment.xlsx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 10 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in Carbon Balance and Management → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 09 Sep, 2024 Reviews received at journal 09 Sep, 2024 Reviews received at journal 21 Aug, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 Aug, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 Aug, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 Aug, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 09 Aug, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 08 Aug, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 01 Aug, 2024 First submitted to journal 29 May, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4497684","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":345330172,"identity":"a1fc730c-3f68-4b43-a6df-525168819953","order_by":0,"name":"Alice 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