CO2 Aborption by Forests

It is often said that planting trees is good for the environment.  Trees absorb CO₂ as they grow, removing CO₂ from the atmosphere and thus reducing the impact of the burning of fossil fuels on global warming. But how much CO₂ do trees actually absorb, compared to the amount of CO₂ released by human activities?

According to estimates published recently in Science, between 2000 and 2007 the forests of the world absorbed an amount of CO₂ equivalent to only 30% of the CO₂ released by just two human activities (the burning of fossil fuels and the production of cement).  The other 70% generated by humans remained in the atmosphere (increasing the atmospheric CO₂ concentration), or was absorbed by the world’s oceans. The 30% absorbed by trees represents a decrease from the 38% absorbed in the previous decade.  That's because CO₂ release into the atmosphere continues to increase and because forest absorption decreased, most likely because of continued destruction of tropical forests.

Plant a tree if you wish.  But to solve the global warming problem we’ll need do a better job of preserving the world’s current forests, particularly in tropical regions.  We'll also need to continue to try to reduce human-caused CO₂ production.