Scientists fear that climate change is going to reshape life on Earth in the coming decades. So, worldwide scientists are working on finding the solutions like harvesting carbon dioxide from the air or even dimming the Sun.
But a San Francisco-based startup ‘Living Carbon’ is considering genetically engineer trees to capture and store more carbon. The startup is planning to enhance trees’ ability to capture carbon dioxide from the air. The company told Fast Company that it’s managed to genetically engineer new trees. These trees will absorb and retain more carbon.
Patrick Mellor, co-founder and chief technology officer at Living Carbon, said, “Planting trees alone is definitely helpful,” “But any way that we can improve the total drawdown of carbon dioxide from photosynthesis, and also improve retention of that carbon, are ways to quite greatly increase the total drawdown potential of trees.”
This innovation could make reforestation attempts much more effective
We all know that trees are natural carbon sinks. So by developing such trees we need to plant fewer trees to meet the desired goal. Moreover, it will also require lesser land.
“What can you do so instead of planting 1 trillion trees, you only have to plant, you know, 500 billion?” says Maddie Hall, the company’s co-founder, and CEO. “Then you have a lot more acreage available for other things.”
