Estimating Carbon Budget from Growth and Management of Urban Street Trees in South Korea

Jin-Young Kim and Hyun-Kil Jo
Additional contact information
Jin-Young Kim: Department of Ecological Landscape Architecture Design, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea
Hyun-Kil Jo: Department of Ecological Landscape Architecture Design, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-13

Abstract: Although street trees take up carbon by vegetation growth, they emit carbon directly or indirectly into the atmosphere due to the need for regular management, such as pruning and, irrigation, etc. This study estimates the annual carbon budget from the growth and management of urban street trees in South Korea and suggests management strategies to minimize the degree of management and annual carbon emissions. Annual carbon emissions from management practices such as pruning, irrigation, pesticide and fungicide application, and fertilization were estimated based on maintenance data, interviews with managers, and actual measurements. Annual carbon emissions from the management of urban street trees were calculated to be 2.4 kg/tree/year. From this total, pruning was the largest contributor at 91%. The average net carbon uptake for each street tree was 5.5 kg/tree/year. The street trees included in this study played an important role in carbon uptake, which was equivalent to 90–550% of the annual carbon emissions from street tree management. Based on these results, suggested management strategies include pruning, irrigation, pesticide and fungicide application, and fertilization. These study results will be useful for designing practical low-carbon landscapes with minimal management and carbon emissions.

Keywords: climate change; low carbon; emissions; net carbon uptake; management strategies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/8/4439/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/8/4439/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:8:p:4439-:d:789611

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().