According to Hemp Copenhagen, industrial hemp has been scientifically proven to absorb more CO2 per hectare than any forest or commercial crop and is therefore the ideal carbon sink.
One hectare of industrial hemp can absorb 22 tonnes of CO2 per hectare. It is possible to grow to 2 crops per year so absorption is doubled. Hemp's rapid growth (grows to 4 metres in 100 days) makes it one of the fastest CO2-to-biomass conversion tools available, more efficient than agro-forestry. So specifically for us, Formula Swiss AG, that means: 50 hectares of hemp production times 44 equals 2.200 tons CO2 absorption per year.
Governments around the world have realised that this valuable crop is not a threat and have encouraged widespread planting of hemp as a means of absorbing CO2 and have issued carbon credits to farmers growing the crop.
For a crop, hemp is very environmentally friendly, as it is naturally insect resistant, and uses no herbicides. Hemp grows rapidly and matures in approximately 90 days compared to traditional forestry taking 20 years. It therefore starts absorbing CO2 from almost from the day it is planted.
The vast quantities of hemp derived products and raw materials created by large scale cultivation could replace many oil-based unsustainable products and materials, particularly in construction, locking in captured CO2 and creating secondary benefits to the global environment. In particular, hemp could be used to replace significant quantities of tree- derived products, allowing reduced use of existing tree populations, thus maintaining their CO2 uptake.
Conclusion
The cultivation of industrial hemp in Europe is vital in our battle to reduce pollution, conserve precious water resources and to improve soil quality. Industrial hemp is unmatched as a means of sequestering Carbon Dioxide and binding it permanently in the materials it is manufactured into.
The widespread cultivation of industrial hemp in Europe will give a strong, positive economic and sustainable boost to remote country areas and areas suffering high unemployment and hardship.
Source: https://hemp-copenhagen.dk/images/Hemp-cph-Carbon-sink.pdf
