Laptops to Eucalypti
Apple plans to plant a hundred million eucalyptus trees to offset carbon, by 2030!
Chapter 33
Laptops to Eucalypti
The Cerrado
Brazil
April 30, 2025
“What remains now compared to what existed before is like the skeleton of a sick man…All the rich and soft soil has dissolved, leaving a county of skin and bones.”
Plato describing Attica’s Forests
cleared to build the City of Athens
Clarina Borzone’s car shuddered and died as night approached on the edge of a strange forest of trees.
Her concern flickered to amusement as Ericka reached for her phone to take yet another picture of the eucalyptus trees whose bark was peeling to reveal their bare, greenish trunks.
“What? I find them stunning. They look like dinosaurs shedding big chunks of skin.”
“And they make your Apple watch, I-phone, laptop and Chat-GBT’s all possible.”
“How so?”
“Apple, Microsoft, Meta and other big tech firms are gambling that working with traditional profit-making lumber companies, they can meet their carbon emission pledges by using these trees to bring eternal verdancy to this region of brown grasslands and gnarled low-slung bushes and shrubs. With these trees, some think the Cerrado will become newly beautiful after being devastated by cattle ranching.”
“And others?”
“Others think this beauty is a mirage. They call these groves ‘green deserts’, that don’t teem with animals and undergrowth, at best they suck up water and serve as tinder for future megafires.”
“Tim Cook claims Apple’s new smart phone is leading the way and that using renewable power has enabled Apple to cut emissions 75% since 2015.”
“But Apple is doing even more than that. It is planning to plant a hundred million eucalyptus trees to remove carbon molecules from the atmosphere to meet their carbon pledges … by 2030.”
“That’s going to be hugely expensive.”
“It is, but they think they can accomplish their aims by making carbon removal profitable.”
“How can they do that?”
“By turning trees into products.”
“Like what?”
“Toilet paper, tissues, furniture, you name it.”
“Certainly an insatiable market.”
“For sure, everybody uses toilet paper.”
“But why use an invasive species like eucalyptus? Don’t they come from Australia?”
“They do but most foresters consider them exotic species, not invasive species, and Apple proposes to invest 50% of their profits back into restoring the Cerrado’s native savannah habitat.”
“Where would this be done?”
“In Mato Grosso, west of here. It already has so many profitable eucalyptus plantations locals to call it Cellulose Valley.”
“It sounds strange to claim carbon credit for trees you plan to chop down and turn into toilet paper or chairs.”
“It does, but the foresters take the long view. After one crop of trees are cut down, more are planted so the forest constantly regrows capturing more and more carbon from the air.
“But won’t most native ecosystems eventually store more carbon than a tree farm?”
“They will, but it may take decades to restore the Cerrado’s former cattle ranches. But Eucalyptus can be planted immediately and grow rapidly so the first carbon credits can be issued in just a few years.”
“So, it fits the corporate model if not the ecological model.”
“It does, but some researchers consider it a scandal that Apple is pursuing speed and convenience at the expense of native restoration.”
“What do you think?”
“I think Eucalyptus has been unfairly demonized. It is a marvelous species actually that has nearly 800 species with unique adaptations.”
“So, it could be turned from a foe into a friend.”
“Exactly, foresters can use rows of eucalyptus as a kind of stabilizer. They will quickly rocket above native species, that can eventually become profitable, but in the meantime the eucalyptus will pay for the hard work of replanting the native species.”
“But don’t Eucalyptus trees require so much water that they dry out the soil and have even been blamed for drying up rivers?”
“They do. When I grew up on the Cerrado my family used to go to the river every weekend. But since the Seventies most of the land was cleared for ranches and soybean fields. Even prominent ecologists advocated moving ranching and farming here to protect the Amazon. We evoked the ‘boi de piranha,’ the myth that if you throw a cow into a river infested with piranha the other cows will ford the river downstream.”
“Does it work?”
“Of course not. While deforestation fell by a half in the Amazon in 2023, it rose 43% in the Cerrado.
It reminds me of Plato’s description of Attica’s forests, cleared to build the city of Athens: ‘What remains now compared to what existed is like the skeleton of a sick man…all the rich soft soil has dissolved, leaving a country of skin and bones’”.