CBhutan has stepped onto the international stage as the first country to become carbon negative. Bhutan is a small land-locked country in the Himalayas situated between India and China, with a population of approximately 820,000 people and a bold promise to remain carbon neutral for all time. Bhutan is not only carbon neutral, but carbon negative.
‘Carbon negative’ is a neat phrase, but an even more extraordinary feat.
Effectively, it means the greenhouse gas pollution the country produces is not only offset by its extensive forests, but also in the negative due to the generation and export of renewable energy.
Figures show that Bhutan generates only 1.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), but the forest sequesters far more CO2 than this. This means they are a net carbon sink for millions of tonnes of CO2 each year. Additionally, Bhutan exports most of the renewable electricity generated by its fast-flowing rivers to India, driving the country into carbon negative status. At this rate, by 2020, Bhutan will be exporting enough electricity to offset 17 million tonnes of CO2 annually.
It is important to recognise that Bhutan is a small, non-industrialised nation and their environmental method would undoubtedly see challenges at a larger scale.
Read the full article here: https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/bhutan-is-the-world-s-only-carbon-negative-country-so-how-did-they-do-it/