Forests are considered the most effective and abundantly available carbon sinks, capable of storing and sequestering millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. A new study from India joins emerging research that challenges this notion, showing that carbon uptake by forests is more volatile in a warming world than previously thought.

The goal to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century has popularized the idea of using forests as tools to aid climate mitigation, or carbon removal, in order to reduce global emissions. The Indian government bet on forests when it pledged to create a carbon sink capable of sequestering an additional 2.5-3 billion tonnes of carbon through forest and tree cover by 2030.

However, the study by researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, highlights the impacts of global warming on the forest ecosystem, suggesting that it may be affecting and reducing the carbon uptake potential of forests. Global warming could have reduced the carbon uptake potential in forests by around 6% over the last two decades, the research finds.

The findings send a “strong scientific message” that improvements in greening don’t necessarily result in improvements in carbon uptake. “This analysis also has significant implications on the scientific analyses for planning to achieve net zero by 2070, as committed by India,” says the paper, published in Nature in December 2023.

Global warming can affect the ability of forests to suck carbon from the atmosphere, shows study

The findings by IIT-Bombay are significant given the emphasis on afforestation, especially in India, and the country’s net-zero ambitions.

Simrin Sirur

Feb 03, 2024 · 10:00 pm