Can corporate afforestation justify the mitigation of CO₂ emission? Urban land teleconnection approach

Abstract Confronted by climate change, enterprises are increasingly launching afforestation initiatives to develop carbon sinks and enhance their environmental, social, and governance performance. Due to the limited availability of land in urban areas—where most corporate headquarters are located—many firms rely on rural and overseas regions to implement these projects. This phenomenon reflects a form of urban land teleconnection (ULT), a key concept in urban sustainability that emphasizes the spatial and functional linkages between urban activities and land-use changes in geographically distant areas. This study investigates ULT through the lens of corporate afforestation behavior in Taiwan. A theoretical framework, supported by empirical analysis, is developed to explain how urban-based corporations influence land use beyond their municipal boundaries. The findings indicate that corporates in urban areas, particularly those with substantial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, actively compensate for local land constraints by investing in afforestation in less urbanized domestic areas and abroad. Notably, Taipei City records the highest level of corporate GHG emissions in 2022, totaling 73.94 MtCO 2 e—equivalent to 42.4% of the total among publicly listed firms (174.39 MtCO 2 e). Given severe land scarcity, Taipei-based enterprises engage in afforestation activities on 256.6 hectares domestically (55% of domestic corporate afforestation) and 29 446 hectares internationally (99% of overseas afforestation). These results underscore the growing reliance of high-emission urban corporations on external land resources and highlight their critical role in reshaping regional and transboundary land-use dynamics under emerging net-zero governance frameworks.