Soil carbon losses hide logging costs

Cutting boreal forests can trigger large releases of carbon from soils and peat that are often omitted from simple 'trees removed' accounting. Those hidden emissions can erase purported climate benefits from timber harvest or bioenergy and should change how permits, credits, and land‑use rules are set. — If true and widespread, this forces policymakers to rework forestry policy, carbon markets, and climate mitigation plans that assume standing trees are the only meaningful carbon pool.