Provided by Congressman Rob Wittman’s Office
The Trillion Trees Act is based on a July 2019 Swiss report, featured by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. The report concluded planting one trillion trees across the world could sequester 205 gigatonnes of carbon. That’s roughly the equivalent of two-thirds of all manmade carbon since the Industrial Revolution.
The bill has three parts:
- Plant more trees in urban areas and on marginal agriculture land domestically while offering technical support and assistance for other countries to maximize forest growth internationally and reverse deforestation.
- Grow more wood in existing forests and make them more resilient to insects, diseases and catastrophic wildfires.
- Store more carbon by incentivizing innovative building practices with a sustainable building tax credit.
This week, Congressman Rob Wittman (VA-01) spoke at a press conference on H.R. 5859, the Trillion Trees Act. The event was also attended by other congressman and a Senator.
“Everyone can agree that, in order to be good stewards of our environment, we need to work to reduce carbon,” Wittman said. “This Trillion Trees Initiative is a forward-thinking approach that works with the private sector to reduce carbon across the planet to protect our environment. These are the types of solutions that deliver real results for the American people and I am excited to join my colleagues on this initiative to make it a reality.”
