CO2

Coal combustion is not only the single most important source of CO₂, accounting for more than a third of global emissions, but also a major contributor to detrimental effects on public health and biodiversity. Yet, globally phasing out coal remains one of the hardest political nuts to crack. New computer simulations by an international team of researchers are now providing robust economic arguments for why it is worth the effort: For once, their simulations show that the world cannot stay below the 2 degrees limit if we continue to burn coal. Second, the benefits of phasing out coal clearly outweigh the costs. Third, those benefits occur mostly locally and short-term, which make them useful for policy makers.

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The alarming rate of carbon dioxide flowing into our atmosphere is affecting plant life in interesting ways—but perhaps not in the way you’d expect. Despite large losses of vegetation to land clearing, drought and wildfires, carbon dioxide is absorbed and stored in vegetation and soils at a growing rate.

This is called the “land carbon sink,” a term describing how vegetation and soils around the world absorb more carbon dioxide from photosynthesis than they release. And over the past 50 years, the sink (the difference between uptake and release of carbon dioxide by those plants) has been increasing, absorbing at least a quarter of human emissions in an average year.

The sink is getting larger because of a rapid increase in plant photosynthesis, and new research shows rising carbon dioxide concentrations largely drive this increase. So, to put it simply, humans are producing more carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide is causing more plant growth, and a higher capacity to suck up carbon dioxide. This process is called the “carbon dioxide fertilization effect”—a phenomenon when carbon emissions boost photosynthesis and, in turn, plant growth.

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Global emissions reach about 40 billion tons each year. The oceans and certain land features naturally absorb about half of the atmosphere’s carbon. But beyond that organic help, there remains a huge amount to contend with, something scientists have been addressing with a concept called negative emissions. Broadly, this means pulling CO₂ out of the air and permanently storing it, often underground, where it originated.

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The International Energy Agency shared some news that climate activists received with cautious optimism: after two straight years of increases, carbon emissions worldwide were flat in 2019. At about 33 gigatonnes, the figure was still significantly higher than what it was in 1995 (around 22 gigatonnes), which is why many environmentalists cautioned against complacency. According to the IEA, the biggest reason emissions didn’t rise is that developed countries are becoming less reliant on coal power.

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Hundreds of thousands of seagrass seeds have been planted off the Pembrokeshire coast as part of the UK’s biggest ever seagrass restoration scheme.

The project aims to help tackle climate change as seagrass captures carbon dioxide up to thirty-five times quicker than tropical rainforests.

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