Hemp and Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s October 2018 Special Report is an urgent reminder that if we serious about a limiting global warming to 1.5˚C, we need to get serious about public engagement.

The report highlights the key environmental benefits of hemp: 

• Hemp can be grown without the use of herbicides, pesticides or fungicides. 
• Hemp is suitable for cultivation near surface water. 
• Hemp is in the top 5 out of 23 crops for biodiversity friendliness, performing better than all major crops such as wheat, maize or rapeseed (Montford and Small, 1999).
• Excellent carbon sequestration: One hectare of industrial hemp can absorb 15 tonnes of CO2 per hectare. 
• Hemp’s rapid growth makes it one of the fastest CO2-to-biomass conversion tools available, more efficient than agro– forestry. 
• Hemp restores soil health: Due to its vigorous growth, hemp is known to be a pioneer plant that can be used for land reclamation and indeed phytoremediation; ‘cleaning’ land polluted by heavy metals. Hemp is a valuable preceding crop in rotations. After cultivation the soil is left in optimum condition.

Hemp fiber is among the strongest and most durable natural textile fibers you can get with similar properties to natural plant fibers in length, durability, strength, absorbency, mildew resistance and antimicrobial properties. Ten tons of hemp can be grown on 1 hectare of land in just 100 days, which makes it one of the best biomasses in the world.