A French oil giant is paying $100 million to keep American trees standing. TotalEnergies is purchasing carbon credits that cover timberland in 10 states ranging from the Louisiana lowlands to the Lake States, the Adirondack Mountains in New York and the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia and Kentucky. The outlay is likely the largest ever in the opaque market designed to forestall tree harvesting in the U.S. …TotalEnergies said it is amassing offsets to make up for greenhouse-gas emissions that it cannot eliminate by 2030. Before this year, it had committed $725 million to offsets generated by preserving or restoring natural carbon sinks around the world, including wetlands and forests. The seller in its latest purchase is Aurora Sustainable Lands. …Oak Hill Advisors paid about $1.8 billion for nearly 1.7 million acres of hardwood forests spread over 17 Eastern states. The latest sale will involve about 740,000 acres. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]