Plants Are Losing Their Ability to Absorb Carbon Dioxide as Emissions Rise

Burned trees from the Palisades Fire and dust blown by winds seen from Will Rogers State Park in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles, California on Jan. 15, 2025. Apu Gomes / Getty Images

Our planet’s plants and soils reached the peak of their ability to absorb carbon dioxide in 2008, and their sequestration rate has been falling ever since, according to a new analysis by a father-and-son team in the United Kingdom.

At first, the added carbon led to warmer temperatures, vegetation growth and a longer growing season. Once a tipping point was reached, however, the combination of heat stress, wildfires, drought, flooding, storms and the spread of new diseases and pests led to a reduction in the amount of carbon plants can soak up.

“The rate of natural sequestration of CO2 from the atmosphere by the terrestrial biosphere peaked in 2008. Atmospheric concentrations will rise more rapidly than previously, in proportion to annual CO2 emissions, as natural sequestration is now declining by 0.25% per year,” the authors of the study wrote. “This effect will accelerate climate change and emphasises the close connection between the climate and nature emergencies. Effort is urgently required to rebuild global biodiversity and to recover its ecosystem services, including natural sequestration.”

Once the tipping point was reached, the chances of unchecked climate breakdown became more likely, reported The Guardian.

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Former Chief Executive of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency James Curran, with help from his son Sam, took a detailed look at the world’s changing carbon concentration levels. Their analysis revealed that, since 2008, plants have been absorbing an average of 0.25 percent less carbon dioxide each year.

“The findings are very stark. Emissions now need to fall by 0.3% per year, just to stand still. That’s a tall order since they typically increase by 1.2% per year,” James Curran said, as The Guardian reported.

The findings suggest that a one-fifth reduction in potential carbon sequestration can lead to a 25 to 37 percent annual increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

“This analysis confirms that the rate of natural sequestration of CO2 from the atmosphere by the terrestrial biosphere is now declining, having reached a peak in 2008. Previous to that date, sequestration had been increasing by as much as 0.8% per year in the 1960s and, if the trend had continued, would have reduced current annual increments in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere by over 30%,” Curran and Curran wrote in the study. “However, this ameliorating effect has been lost and sequestration is now declining by 0.25% per year. Atmospheric CO2 concentration will now rise more rapidly than previously in proportion to annual global CO2 emissions.”

The study, “Natural sequestration of carbon dioxide is in decline: climate change will accelerate,” was published in the journal Weather.

“This growing and very damaging effect will further accelerate climate change and serves, yet again, to emphasise the close connection between the climate and nature emergencies,” Curran and Curran wrote.

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