Carbon sequestration in turfgrass 20 years of results

Abstract DLF France started looking at carbon sequestration on its trial grounds at Les Alleuds, near Angers, France, in 2008, based on trial plots sown in 2005. It all started as a joke “Why can we get carbon credits for planting trees but not for sowing grass?”. A brief internet search revealed that although trees store more carbon overall (tree trunks, branches, and roots), the carbon sequestration of grassland (soil and roots overall) exceeds that of trees. Our first results were presented to the European Turfgrass Society in Norway in 2012. Now, 15 years since our first investigations started, we have continued our research to cover France and Denmark and 55 grass cultivars in eight species.