Trudeau’s ‘two billion tree’ program will not benefit climate for a century: report

The Canadian Press / Christinne Muschi

A key environmental group has called out the Trudeau government for its overrated “two billion trees” program. Any benefit to local ecosystems would not be felt for up to a century.

The 2019 Liberal platform pledged two billion new trees by 2030 to combat ‘climate change’. It would create 3,500 seasonal jobs annually, the Liberals asserted. 

“This program is overrated … especially the government’s intention to help counter carbon emissions,” said the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society's Bulletin. 

It would take 10 billion mature trees 50 to 100 years to reduce annual emissions, not new seedlings, according to the organization. Canada produces 730 million tonnes of carbon each year, reported Blacklock’s Reporter.

“Those statistics make tree planting helpful for drawing down atmospheric carbon over the next two centuries but not for countering annual emissions,” said the Bulletin.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is well on his way to missing a 2019 cabinet pledge to plant two billion trees within a decade. Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco said the program is “unlikely to succeed.”https://t.co/BRUiHxvrZ3

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) April 21, 2023

The Liberal election document, Forward: A Real Plan For The Middle Class, pledged “to clean our air and protect our communities” through planting two billion trees. Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco last year said the pledge is not likely to manifest. 

DeMarco condemned Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN) for boosting its numbers by using trees planted under a different program by another department. 

Interim figures include millions of trees planted through the Environment and Climate Change Canada's Low Carbon Economy Fund (LCEF). Natural Resource Minister Jonathan Wilkinson confirmed his department relied on trees planted through that program. 

Auditor Kimberly Leach later admitted the two billion benchmark would only happen with help from other levels of government. 

“It's creative accounting,” DeMarco testified at the Commons natural resources committee last June 13. “It's certainly within their prerogative to do that.” Ottawa planted 28.9 million trees at the time.

It will take a generation to see any climate benefit from cabinet’s proposal to plant two billion trees, the Department of Natural Resources said yesterday. The 2019 election promise announced by then-Environment Minister Catherine McKenna will cost $5.9 billion, by Budget Office…

— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) May 22, 2024

Documents show the feds did not intend for the “two billion trees” target to be taken literally. “The government sought a name that would inspire that commitment and participation,” said a February 15 Department of Natural Resources memo. “So far that has worked.”

Commissioner DeMarco only expects the Trudeau government to plant 76.2 million trees by 2030.

Only a fifth as many trees will be planted by 2031, said the note Two Billion Trees Questions And Answers. 

“To date the Government of Canada has signed or is in the process of negotiating agreements that will result in 393 million trees planted by 2031,” it said. “We are engaged with all partners on how to move ahead.”

Trudeau bragging today about how his government will plant 2 billion trees.

Trees planted by Trudeau’s Libs: ZERO

Trees planted by Syncrude Oil: 11,000,000+

🤡 pic.twitter.com/fXSU8hRBQY

— Roberto Wakerell-Cruz✝️ (@Robertopedia) September 28, 2020

Canada has 318 billion trees, the equivalent of 25% of the planet’s original forest cover, according to the Yale School of Forestry.

“Trees are a huge asset, providing shade and cooling,” then-Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said at the time. “Our Party’s commitment to tree planting is an opportunity to get more trees planted.” 

Canada plants 600 million trees annually under Crown licenses with forestry companies. From 2007 to 2017, timber companies and provinces planted 5.6 billion trees, nearly triple the federal plan.

Program costs, at $3.16 billion over ten years, are now expected to be $5.94 billion, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).