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Category: climatology – Page 11

Major climate-GDP study under review after facing challenge

A blockbuster study published in top science journal Nature last year warned that unchecked climate change could slash global GDP by a staggering 62% by century’s end, setting off alarm bells among financial institutions worldwide.

But a re-analysis by Stanford University researchers in California, released Wednesday, challenges that conclusion—finding the projected hit to be about three times smaller and broadly in line with earlier estimates, after excluding an anomalous result tied to Uzbekistan.

The saga may culminate in a rare retraction, with Nature telling AFP it will have “further information to share soon”—a move that would almost certainly be seized upon by climate-change skeptics.

Climate-protecting carbon sinks of EU forests are declining

Forests cover about 40% of the EU’s land area. Between 1990 and 2022, they absorbed around 10% of the continent’s man-made carbon emissions. However, the carbon dioxide absorption capacity of forests, also known as carbon sinks, is becoming increasingly weaker.

This is shown by calculations of multi-year carbon budgets by an international team of researchers in a recent Nature study. The continuous decline in the carbon sink of our forests jeopardizes the EU’s climate targets. To halt or reverse the trend, the authors recommend practical measures in research and forest management.

Forests absorb (CO₂) from the atmosphere, which they use for their metabolism and convert into biomass. Healthy and growing forests therefore act as carbon sinks, storing climate-damaging CO₂ from the atmosphere in the long term.

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