Are Artificial Christmas Trees Better for the Environment Than Real Ones? It Depends

By Bert Cregg, Michigan State University
Dec 11, 2018 5:13 PMDec 17, 2019 2:52 AM
Scotch pines Christmas tree farm - CCBY
Scotch pines on a Christmas tree farm in northern Michigan. (Credit: Bert Cregg, CC BY-ND)

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Environmentally conscious consumers often ask me whether a real Christmas tree or an artificial one is the more sustainable choice. As a horticulture and forestry researcher, I know this question is also a concern for the Christmas tree industry, which is wary of losing market share to artificial trees.

And they have good reason: Of the 48.5 million Christmas trees Americans purchased in 2017, 45 percent were artificial, and that share is growing. Many factors can influence this choice, but the bottom line is that both real and artificial Christmas trees have negligible environmental impacts. Which option “wins” in terms of carbon footprint depends entirely on assumptions about how long consumers would keep an artificial tree versus how far they would drive each year to purchase a real tree.

Cutting the 2018 Capitol Christmas Tree in Oregon’s Willamette National Forest for delivery by truck to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. (Credit: USFS – Pacific Northwest)

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