Transportation carbon dioxide emission offsets by public urban trees: A case study in Bolzano, Italy

Russo, Alessio ORCID: 0000-0002-0073-7243, Escobedo, Francisco J., Timilsina, Nilesh and Zerbe, Stefan (2015) Transportation carbon dioxide emission offsets by public urban trees: A case study in Bolzano, Italy. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 14 (2). pp. 398-403. doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2015.04.002

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Abstract

Increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in urban areas due to rapid population growth and consequent increased energy use and vehicular traffic is a worldwide problem contributing to an altered global climate. Studies from North America and Asia have reported that urban trees can be used to mitigate these emissions. However, little is known about the role of European urban streetscapes in mitigating similar emissions from the transportation sector. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a method to calculate carbon dioxide storage and sequestration at the streetscapes level using field data, an existing tree inventory and available region-specific allometric equations. Results were compared to annual vehicular CO2 emissions from a city in the Italian Alps to determine the CO2 offset potential of urban streetscapes. We found that the trees in Bolzano's streetscapes through sequestration annually offset 0.08% of the amount of CO2 emitted by the transportation sector. Results, applications, and a potential indicator are discussed and compared against other studies. Findings from this study can be used as indicators and to better understand the potential role of urban streetscapes in reducing urban atmospheric CO2 emissions.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Climate change; CO2 accounting; CO2 sequestration; Streetscapes; Transportation emissions
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences S Agriculture > SB Plant culture > SB469 Landscape gardening. Landscape architecture
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Creative Arts
Research Priority Areas:	Creative Practice and Theory
Depositing User:	Alessio Russo
Date Deposited:	25 Mar 2019 10:06
Last Modified:	31 Aug 2023 09:23
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/6594

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