> It would be "better" to burn coal and plant new trees than to burn wood and plant new trees.

From a purely CO2 perspective, trees are just stores of carbon, just like coal. I don't get how one is better to burn than the other? If anything that should come out in favor of burning trees, because wood contains more hydrogen bonds (that oxidize to H2O instead of CO2) and because newly planted trees grow much better in logged forests than they do in coal mines.