Otherwise, the state may face demands that verge on banning people from breathing, as exhaled air naturally contains a lot of CO2. In practical terms, this would mean the state having to purchase emission quotas and restrict economic activity; and the money spent on purchasing quotas would be recouped from the people living here in the form of taxes or levies. The year 2030 has been set as an intermediate milestone on the path to 2050. For Latvia not to be subjected to financial penalties by that point, it will not be enough to simply show a large forest area in hectares and as a percentage of the country's territory. It will also be necessary to account for how much CO2 is absorbed and O2 emitted from this area. It is obvious even without research that, in terms of their incapacity to absorb CO2 and emit O2, young saplings planted this year, last year, or previously are very similar to the massive trees in a 'centennial' forest—which practically does not exist, as most trees in Latvia cannot reach such an age, regardless of the risk of being felled. A forest regenerates either through natural forest fires, which clear the forest of its excess CO2 stocks, or through the struggle of new trees against dying ones. In both cases, the net CO2 sequestration is close to zero when compared to the CO2 sequestration in an intensively growing forest.