The Paris Agreement came into force on November 4 and the EU has moved to ratify without major objections. Emerging and mature economies are also following through. Now, it appears, nature is stepping up the effort to curb CO2 emissions.
The surge in CO2 emission in the Earth’s atmosphere is being by plants working “overtime.” A
new studypublished
on Tuesday by the Nature Communications journal suggests that
vegetation has increased its capacity to offset carbon emissions between
2002 and 2014.
Over the last half a century, the amount of CO2 absorbed by the
Earth’s and ocean vegetation has doubled. But, the pace of human
emissions is surging too fast for the ecosystem to keep up. Overall, the
increased “productivity” of plants is estimated to have cut net
emissions by 20%.
Studies earlier this year made clear CO2 favours greening and that a
bigger area of the planet is covered by vegetation. However, the study
suggests that CO2 also fertilizes plants and, as a result, plants are
more “productive” in absorbing CO2.
The study does not show that there is a less urgent need to reduce
emissions. If temperatures rise significantly, plants may begin to
release bigger quantities of CO2 in respiration. The balance of the
global ecosystem remains fragile.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/nature-working-overtime-reduce-co2-emissions/