Nature – Zhu et al. (2025): China’s carbon sinks from land-use change underestimated
Yakun Zhu, Xiaosheng Xia, Josep G. Canadell, Shilong Piao, Xinqing Lu, Umakant Mishra, Xuhui Wang, Wenping Yuan, Zhangcai Qin IN: Nature Climate Change, DOI: 10.1038/s41558-025-02296-z
The authors show that ELUC in China shifted from a carbon source to a sink in the 1990s, contributing to a net cumulative CO₂ removal of 2.0 Pg C during 1981–2020. From 2001 to 2020, the average ELUC was −0.14 Pg C yr−1, accounting for over one-third of the national land carbon sinks. Forest-related LUC activities contributed greatly to national carbon fluxes, while non-forest-related activities played a dominant role in certain areas.