More realistic environmental modeling suggests that plants may absorb more anthropogenic CO2 emissions than previously predicted. However, scientists emphasize that governments cannot overlook the need to limit greenhouse gas emissions, highlighting the benefits of protecting terrestrial ecosystems.

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants transform CO2 into sugars used for growth and metabolism. It is a natural way to reduce carbon levels in the atmosphere and mitigate the effects of climate change. Increased CO2 uptake by vegetation is the primary reason for the observed growth in land carbon sequestration over the past few decades.

However, climate change can impact this process. It was unclear how vegetation would respond to CO2 concentrations, temperatures, and precipitation levels that significantly deviate from current observations. Therefore, severe droughts and heatwaves could weaken the absorptive capacity of terrestrial ecosystems.

In a new study conducted at Trinity College Dublin, scientists present the results of their modeling, estimating the impact of climate change on carbon sequestration by vegetation until the end of the 21st century. The study utilized different versions of the model, accounting for various physiological plant processes. A simpler version ignored some crucial photosynthesis elements, while the most complex version considered all these mechanisms.

Aspects such as the efficiency of CO2 movement through the internal leaf, plant adaptation to temperature changes, and the economic distribution of nutrients in the plant canopy were taken into account. These mechanisms strongly influence the plant's ability to regulate the carbon cycle but are often overlooked in global models.

It turns out that more complex models, incorporating more physiological plant processes, predict a significant increase in carbon absorption by vegetation worldwide. The effects of these processes mutually reinforce each other, indicating that even greater CO2 absorption can be expected under real-world conditions.

Most existing land biosphere models used to estimate carbon sequestration only partially or not at all consider complex plant-related mechanisms and fall on the lower end of the complexity spectrum. This means that scientists underestimate the ability of vegetation to adapt to climate change. However, planting trees alone will not solve all problems. Scientists emphasize the need for further emission reduction across all sectors.