The main driver of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide
(CO2) levels, and the resulting climate change, is the combustion
of fossil fuels. Burning coal, oil and natural gas releases
carbon that has been stored for hundreds of millions of years.
Any carbon that is in solid form in trees is a part of a relatively
rapid carbon cycle (all trees burn or rot within a few hundred
years, releasing carbon as a gas). While CO2 releases from any
source contribute equally to the greenhouse effect, only
reducing the release of fossil fuel-derived carbon will have
any long-term, net impact on reducing green house gases and
climate change.