As part of the project, more than 100 trees were planted along the Greensboro Greenway to increase urban tree canopy.
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Elon students joined City of Greensboro, Greensboro Beautiful and Urban Offsets staff and other volunteers on Dec. 2 to plant over 100 trees along the Greensboro Greenway.
The planting was part of an urban forestry pilot program developed by Duke University’s Carbon Offsets Initiative (DCOI) and Urban Offsets, a North Carolina based start-up dedicated to helping institutions reach their carbon neutrality commitments and cities plant trees. Elon University supported a similar tree planting project in Price Park in February 2017. The December planting primarily represents Duke University’s funding match of the February project, which increases the impact of Elon’s commitment.
As the trees grow, they will sequester carbon from the atmosphere and help improve air quality. They will also provide shade coverage, noise and stormwater control and wildlife habitat. The carbon offsets generated by this tree project will contribute toward Duke University’s carbon neutrality goal, while those from the February planting will help Elon University reach its carbon neutrality goal. A carbon offset is a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions that is used to compensate for emissions from other activities.
Urban Offsets partners with local tree-planting organizations and municipalities to develop urban tree lanting projects to help institutions reach their carbon neutrality commitments with locally sourced carbon offsets. The City of Greensboro and Greensboro Beautiful will maintain the trees, and they will be monitored throughout the life of the project. On a regular basis, detailed data will be collected on the trees and reviewed to verify the carbon offsets generated.
Duke University’s Carbon Offsets Initiative developed the protocol utilized for these projects, which simplifies the process for managing and verifying urban forestry carbon offset projects. DCOI is responsible for helping Duke University meet its climate neutrality commitment through the development of innovative emission reduction projects.