Christmas trees are an iconic part of the holiday season, and growing them is good for the environment. According to a study from researchers at Lund University and Stockholm University in Sweden, evergreen varieties of trees like pines, firs, and spruces absorb a lot of greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide.

Christmas trees are an iconic part of the holiday season, and growing them is good for the environment.

According to a study from researchers at Lund University and Stockholm University in Sweden, evergreen varieties of trees like pines, firs, and spruces absorb a lot of greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide.

Humans are reportedly responsible for 60 percent of the methane in the atmosphere, which is 23 times worse that carbon dioxide.

Atmospheric measurements of methane show that there has been a decrease in areas known as hotspots.

There are a few possible explanations for the change, like a reduction in burning fossil fuels, or a lower availability of microbes, but lead researcher Elin Sundqvist says that “an increasing amount of CH4, or methane, has been taken up by vegetation during the last decades as a consequence of increased greenness.”

Previous studies showed that plants including evergreen trees actually produce methane, but the latest research refutes that claim.

These kinds of trees work to make the atmosphere cleaner when they are alive, so cutting them down to use as a holiday decoration in your house doesn’t count as helping the environment.