Earth System Dynamics (Jan 2014)

Comment on "Carbon farming in hot, dry coastal areas: an option for climate change mitigation" by Becker et al. (2013)

  • M. Heimann

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-5-41-2014
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 1
pp. 41 – 42

Abstract

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Becker et al. (2013) argue that an afforestation of 0.73 × 109 ha with Jatropha curcas plants would generate an additional terrestrial carbon sink of 4.3 PgC yr−1, enough to stabilise the atmospheric mixing ratio of carbon dioxide (CO2) at current levels. However, this is not consistent with the dynamics of the global carbon cycle. Using a well-established global carbon cycle model, the effect of adding such a hypothetical sink leads to a reduction of atmospheric CO2 levels in the year 2030 by 25 ppm compared to a reference scenario. However, the stabilisation of the atmospheric CO2 concentration requires a much larger additional sink or corresponding reduction of anthropogenic emissions.