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Duke Energy has announced plans to plant 1 million trees on about 1,700 acres in Arkansas to help the electric power company generate carbon offsets.
The tree planting is part of the “GreenTrees” program, which seeks to reforest 1 million acres in seven states, most of them in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Duke Energy, based in Charlotte, N.C., is the lead investor in the program.
“The program is expected to generate high-quality, verifiable carbon offsets that Duke Energy believes will help reduce the overall cost of compliance with federal climate change legislation,” a company press release said.
Duke (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 500 company, supplies power to about 4 million customers in the United States, primarily in the Carolinas and the Midwest.
The company is taking the action in anticipation of federal climate change legislation, which is expected to produce a market for carbon offsets as part of a cap-and-trade program to control carbon dioxide emissions. Trees absorb carbon dioxide.