International Paper, Westvaco and other corporations have allied themselves with Monsanto to produce herbicide-tolerant trees for international markets. Shell Oil, BP and Toyota are also on the scene planting mutant trees for carbon credits. New mutant plantations are displacing indigenous peoples. Plantations are on former agricultural land and on cutover forest land. Non-mutant trees are also being planted on a large scale.
Mutant trees are the most recent extension of industrial forestry.
There's no scientific basis to the claims that these plantations really do offset carbon emissions. Some teak and other hardwoods are being planted too, but not so much because there's still a lot left in native forests. Rapidly growing trees rapidly deplete soils. Whole tree harvesting leaves little organic material to go back into the soil. It's likely that after a few rotations of these trees, soils will be drastically reduced in their abilities to support any kind of plant growth.