Does a carbon negative country exist?

The short answer is yes, it does. While the European Climate Law and the EU are committing to carbon neutrality by 2050, there exists a country that already achieved this goal and even took it one step further. Bhutan, which is officially know as the Kingdom of Bhutan, is the first carbon negative country, located in the Eastern Himalayas.

Carbon neutrality means having a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere in carbon sinks. Carbon negativity however, is creating a net effect of removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than adding to it. To become a carbon negative country is a huge challenge, so how did Bhutan achieve it?

It appears to begin at the top. Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the nations’s king, devised a concept known as Gross National Happiness as part of an endeavor to make the country one of the happiest in the world. While he was successful in this, he also made it the greenest. This is due to the index's four pillars, which include sustainable development, environmental protection, cultural preservation, and good governance, which is a formula for a happy nation and a happy environment. Among some of the country's green policies is the law that 60 percent of its landmass must be maintained and protected as forest, which was ultimately manifested in the constitution. Because of this, Bhutan is currently 72 percent forested, and the country has even banned export logging. The government also preserves this by only allowing limited, low-impact tourism, including charging tourists a sustainable development fee. With this, unsurprisingly, the country has won world records for planting the most trees per hour.

However, with illegal logging and the natural growth of the economy and climate pressures, keeping up the climate-negative status becomes an on-going challenge. 

These are only a few examples of how this small himalayan state achieved becoming carbon negative. Interested in further information? Then check out the link and paper below:

The world’s first carbon negative country

Yangka, Dorji & Rauland, Vanessa & Newman, Peter. (2018). Carbon neutral policy in action: the case of Bhutan. Climate Policy. 19. 1-16. 10.1080/14693062.2018.1551187.