Carbon storage

Mapping Canada’s Carbon Landscape

Climate Change

High-carbon landscapes play an important role in regulating the Earth’s climate by removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in natural ecosystems. If these ecosystems are disturbed, that stored carbon can be released back to the atmosphere, accelerating climate change.

A new study by WWF-Canada, led by scientists at McMaster University’s Remote Sensing Lab, has measured, for the first time, how much carbon is stored in Canada’s landscapes, and where the biggest stores can be found. The results are staggering: Canada stores a massive 405 Pg (that’s 405 billion tonnes) of carbon in its terrestrial ecosystems — equivalent to about 30 years of human-caused global greenhouse gas emissions at 2019 emission levels.

As atmospheric carbon rises, so do rivers, adding to flooding

Climate Change

When it comes to climate change, relationships are everything. That’s a key takeaway of a new UO study that examines the interaction between plants, atmospheric carbon dioxide and rising water levels in the Mississippi River.

Using data covering more than two centuries, researchers demonstrated that as carbon levels in the atmosphere have risen due to the burning of fossil fuels, the ability of plants to absorb water from the air has decreased. That means more rainfall makes its way into rivers and streams, adding to their potential for damaging floods.

3 reasons carbon capture and storage has stalled needlessly

Climate Change

The idea is simple: capture and concentrate CO₂ before it’s released to the air and store it deep underground where it can’t escape. Instead of adding to the climate crisis, carbon capture and storage could turn power plants and factories into CO₂-sucking behemoths, filling underground reservoirs that otherwise held fossil fuels or salty water.