Won’t Forests Save the Planet From Overheating?
Published by Todd Bush on July 7, 2026
It appears that the role of trees in combating climate change has been overestimated.
Trees may not be capable of absorbing as much of the carbon that is warming the planet as previously thought.
>> In Other News: California’s First Carbon Capture Project Is Up and Running. Environmentalists Are Still Trying to Stop It.
A study has been published suggesting that photosynthesis does not always lead to tree growth. Researchers studied 137 forest sites in the U.S. and found that trees stopped growing several months before photosynthesis ceased for the year, according to The Guardian.
Forests do, after all, protect the planet during the climate crisis, but their ability to mitigate global warming depends in part on how much carbon dioxide they can convert into wood.
It is wood that keeps the molecules that warm the planet out of the atmosphere for decades and centuries.
Other forms of carbon storage typically last much shorter periods.
“Currently, most scientific models assume that if there is photosynthesis, there is wood growth. We found that this is not the case,” says Mukund Palat Rao, a carbon cycle specialist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the study’s lead author.
– The fact that photosynthesis is increasing does not necessarily mean that trees will grow faster in the future.
“Earth system climate models that assume a constant, close link between photosynthesis and tree growth may overestimate the future ability of forests to sequester carbon as atmospheric dryness increases.”
Subscribe to the newsletter
Daily decarbonization data and news delivered to your inbox
Follow the money flow of climate, technology, and energy investments to uncover new opportunities and jobs.
Latest issues
-
Origins Hub Will Store 1.5 Million Tonnes of CO2 in Alberta
Inside This Issue 🍁 Enhance Energy's Origins Hub Reshapes Alberta Carbon Storage 🤝 Carbon Unbound Merges East and West Coast Summits Into One Flagship North American CDR Event 🧭 Vortex Energy Enga...
-
Honeywell's Methanol-to-Jet Pathway Just Cleared Its Biggest Gate
Inside This Issue 🛫 Methanol-to-Jet Clears the ASTM Gate. What Changes Now? 🌿 InPlanet Selected as the Brazilian Supplier in Whirlpool Corporation's Durable Carbon Removal Portfolio 🧲 Climeworks A...
-
How Montana Renewables Cut $1B Out of Its SAF Budget
Inside This Issue 🌿 How Montana Renewables Cut MaxSAF Capex 89% 📋 IRS Issues Notice on 45Z Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit to Support Domestic Biofuel Production and American Agriculture 🌊 Natura...
Company Announcements
-
Center for Green Market Activation, RMI, and 3Degrees partner on new initiative to harness collective demand for green ammonia to reduce fertilizer production emissions. WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2026...
-
Proposed collaboration combines Mantle8's proprietary hydrogen exploration platform with Element One's regional operating capabilities in British Columbia and Alberta Vancouver, British Columbia--...
-
Vortex Energy Engages Lonquist to Manage Ground Gravity Survey at the Robinsons River Salt Project
Lonquist to lead survey planning and data acquisition, building on recent technical work at Robinsons River VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vortex Energy Corp. (CSE...
-
In the largest rice methane offtake to date, Mitti Labs will deliver one million high-integrity credits to Google by 2030 BENGALURU, India and SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Deep-t...