The DOI matches its Crossref record; 106 of the 106 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Ecological limits to terrestrial biological carbon dioxide removal
Open accessAbstract
Terrestrial biological atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (BCDR) through bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECS), afforestation/reforestation, and forest and soil management is a family of proposed climate change mitigation strategies. Very high sequestration potentials for these strategies have been reported, but there has been no systematic analysis of the potential ecological limits to and environmental impacts of implementation at the scale relevant to climate change mitigation. In this analysis, we identified site-specific aspects of land, water, nutrients, and habitat that will affect local project-scale carbon sequestration and ecological impacts. Using this framework, we estimated global-scale land and resource requirements for BCDR, implemented at a rate of 1 Pg C y −1 . We estimate that removing 1 Pg C y −1 via tropical afforestation would require at least 7 × 10 6 ha y −1 of land, 0.09 Tg y −1 of nitrogen, and 0.2 Tg y −1 of phosphorous, and would increase evapotranspiration from those lands by almost 50 %. Switchgrass BECS would require at least 2 × 10 8 ha of land (20 times U.S. area currently under bioethanol production) and 20 Tg y −1 of nitrogen (20 % of global fertilizer nitrogen production), consuming 4 × 10 12 m 3 y −1 of water. While BCDR promises some direct (climate) and ancillary (restoration, habitat protection) benefits, Pg C-scale implementation may be constrained by ecological factors, and may compromise the ultimate goals of climate change mitigation.
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“By contrast, BECCS requires 400-2400 Mha land.22,24,35,36”
From The mutual dependence of negative emission technologies and energy systems (2019) · cites this paper as [36]
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“BECCS is highly land intensive.”
From The mutual dependence of negative emission technologies and energy systems (2019) · cites this paper as [36]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Smith, L. J., & Torn, M. S.
- Affiliations
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- Corresponding author
- Torn, Margaret S.
- ORCID
- Torn, Margaret S.
- Venue
- Climatic Change
- Published
- 2013-02-06
- Volume
- 118
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 89-103
- ISSN
- 0165-0009 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-1480
- OpenAlex
- W2081128850
- Cited by
- 118
- References
- 106
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 5.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Climatic Change (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy (-AC02-05CH11231, Contract No. DE-AC02-05-CH11231, 05CH11231, No. DE-AC02-05-CH11231, DE AC02 05CH11231, DE-AC02-)
- Office of Science (No. DE-AC02- 05-CH11231, DEAC02–05CH11231, AC02-05CH11231, DE-AC02, 05CH11231, Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231)
- Biological and Environmental Research (05CH11231, No. DE-AC02-05CH11231, DE-AC02 − 05CH11231, Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231, AC02-05CH11231)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Forestry › Forest Management and Policy
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Climate Change Policy and Economics
- Keywords
- bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, afforestation, switchgrass, nitrogen fertilization, phosphorus utilization, water consumption, evapotranspiration, land requirements, soil carbon sequestration, ecological limits, climate change mitigation
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