Search

The land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector, as a source and a sink of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is critical for achieving carbon neutrality. Many academic journals have published papers on land use carbon emission or sink (LUCES), but LUCES reviews are relatively rare, which poses great challenges in accurately understanding the research progress and future prospects. This work analyzes the research characteristics, hotspots and future perspectives of LUCES research by using a bibliometric analysis (such as DDA, VOSviewer, CiteSpace software) and a review based on the data (6115 scientific papers) during 1991–2023 from the Web of Science (WoS) platform. We found that (1) over the past 33 years, it first presented a steady growth, then fluctuating growth, and finally a rapid growth trend in the yearly number of publications in LUCES research. The USA (17.31%), China (14.96%), and the UK (7.37%) occupy a dominant position in this research field. (2) The related LUCES research is interdisciplinary, which mainly cover science and technology, meteorology and atmospheric sciences, geology, and environmental sciences and ecology disciplines. (3) The research hotspot analysis on LUCES shows that these articles mostly covered the follow three aspects: ecosystem services, climate change, and carbon neutrality. (4) A review of the past LUCES literature suggests that it is mainly focused on exploring the forefront issues in terms of the definition and boundaries, evaluation method and influencing factors, etc. This work suggests that further research could explore the main scientific problems on quantification of land-based carbon neutrality, quantitative analysis of the impact mechanisms, as well as interdisciplinary research and collaborative governance needed for carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon sink is the process of absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere, through forests, wetlands, grasslands, and oceans. Through this process, greenhouse gases can be absorbed from the atmosphere. In order to analyze the contribution of carbon sinks to carbon neutrality, three parts of works were carried out on carbon sinks in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. Firstly, the regional carbon sinks were calculated based on actual data. Secondly, the macro-factors were selected related to carbon sinks, on which the econometric analysis was carried out. Finally, a carbon sink prediction model was constructed based on partial least squares regression. After that, three carbon sink development scenarios with different intensities were set up. Under these three scenarios, the carbon sink potential of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was forecasted from 2020 to 2030. The results show that under the strong carbon sink scenario, the carbon sink in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei can neutralize 388.6901 million tons/a of carbon emissions by 2030, whose contribution rate to China's carbon emission reduction can reach 10.48%. Compared with the baseline scenario and weak carbon sink scenario, the strong carbon sink scenario can achieve greater carbon sink potential and contribute more to China's carbon neutrality. As a conclusion, the target of carbon neutrality of China can be easier to achieve under the strong carbon sink scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests and grasslands play an important role in carbon cycling. They not only absorb CO2 from the air through vegetation biomass and soil carbon sinks, but also reduce and control the horizontal transport of soil carbon (i.e., reinforcing soil carbon storage via soil conservation), thus avoiding erosion-induced CO2 emissions. In this study, vegetation biomass and soil carbon sinks, soil carbon reinforcement and reduced carbon emissions via soil conservation by forests and grasslands were quantified on the scale of the whole of China. The analysis was based on the distribution of biomass and the soil carbon pool and soil erosion rates derived from national surveys, as well as carbon density values from field surveys and literature. In 2021, forests and grasslands in China generated 394.18 Mt C/year (y) of steady-state carbon sinks through vertical biomass and soil absorption. The biomass carbon sinks of grasslands, and those of leaves, twigs, flowers and fruits of the forests, were not taken into account when quantifying the stable biomass sink, because they can become net producers of CO2 due to seasonal withering and carryover, or they can form soil organic carbon as potential soil carbon sinks. The amount of horizontal soil carbon reinforcement in China's forests and grasslands in 2021 was 20.31 Mt C/y, which was positively correlated with the reduction in the water erosion area; consequently, vertical emissions of approximately 14.89–29.78 Mt of CO2 into the atmosphere were avoided. Overall, in 2021, China's forests and grasslands absorbed atmospheric CO2 and reduced emissions by 1.46–1.47 Gt CO2/y, equivalent to approximately 13% of China's annual fossil CO2 emissions. This study demonstrates the fact that the adoption of forest and grassland measures sequesters carbon in soil and biota and reduces the risks of CO2 emissions by both vertical and horizontal paths, which is important for achieving carbon neutrality and mitigating climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limiting the negative effects of human-induced global warming is the focus of climate policy worldwide. In the European Union (EU), the target for reaching carbon neutrality is set to 2050, including a proposed renewable energy target of 45% for 2030. In Finland, the government has pledged to reach net-zero emissions already by 2035, which is expected to require large increases in wind and nuclear capacity, as well as sector coupling with, e.g., transport and heating. In view of these plans, this study evaluates the feasibility of attaining carbon neutrality in Finland by 2035, while considering delays from potential bottlenecks, such as limited raw material availability, fuel availability, manufacturing capacity, and import reliance. The literature review highlights the considerable dependence of renewable technologies on critical raw materials and other minerals, largely imported from non-EU countries. Modelling revealed how increased biomass usage considerably reduces the size of national carbon sinks, vital for reaching net-zero emissions in Finland in the coming decade. In light of this, current climate strategy was shown to be partially outdated and short of reaching carbon neutrality by 2035, already without including potential delays from the analyzed bottlenecks. Subsequently, alternative measures to improve sustainability and reduce emissions are presented. The findings of this paper are also relevant for other countries aiming to reach net-zero emissions, especially for those which have climate strategies emphasizing bioenergy and wind power. [Display omitted] • Raw material and manufacturing bottlenecks can delay renewable implementation. • Maintaining carbon sinks critical for climate neutral Finland in 2035. • Limits to biomass usage are needed, but result in adverse industrial impacts. • Further nuclear capacity needed for 2035 climate target and electricity sufficiency. • Finland will rely on electricity imports in 2035, despite plans to become exporter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than 25% of the total energy consumption in Finland has been produced with wood fuels. Since 2012, the share has been greater than that of oil, coal, or natural gas. Internal carbon pricing is used to manage the risks in wood procurement after wood import from Russia ended. Further, the EU announced plans to sell more carbon emission permits to fund the EU's exit from Russian energy. To manage these challenges, a data-driven internal carbon pricing mechanism (DDICPM) has been developed for wood procurement optimization. Particularly, local changes are considered via available information about growth-based carbon sinks (GBCS). The results of the new scenario were compared to the basic national scenario that ensures carbon neutrality in forestry. The DDICPM may provide the optimum wood-procurement operations maintaining carbon neutrality in the integrated energy and material industry (IEMI). In this study, the use of DDICPM increased profitability b 16.2, 16.1, and 16.0% between adapted wood procurement areas at the EU's emission allowance prices of 30, 65, and 98 € t−1 CO2. The experiments' results also revealed that the DDICPM could consistently and significantly outperform the conventional solution adopted by the company in terms of economic costs. A significant conclusion is that an increase in profitability is possible if the size of wood procurement areas is allowed to vary optimally with respect to transport distance to take advantage of the GBCS as a new application of the renewable carbon sink. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Visualization and quantitative analysis of the global ecological carbon sinks and sources. • Enhance the prediction of carbon sequestration dynamics under climate change. • Climate change potentially affecting the carbon-climate feedback. • Research content is becoming clearer and more systematic. • Keyword clustering the classification of the research into six relatively independent subtopics. Climate change is extensively affecting the global ecosystem, especially the ecosystem carbon sequestration and sequestration potential, which are issues of global concern. The proposed concept of "carbon neutrality" in 2020 has brought ecological carbon sequestration to the forefront. Therefore, the research on climate change and ecosystem carbon sequestration need to be systematically reviewed, summarized, and examined. Based on the Web of Science database, this paper analyzed 4005 articles (1992–2022 year) after rigorous screening via a bibliometrics analysis and then presented the research trends and future research focus of ecological carbon sequestration. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) the research over the last 30 years has steadily improved, and the annual number of publications has increased in a cubic polynomial fashion (R 2 = 0.9937), with 87.57 % of the total publications appearing after 2009. Global Change Biology and Science of the Total Environment are the most influential journals in the field; (2) participation in such research is becoming increasingly common with expanding research areas covering Eurasia, America, Oceania, and Africa. The United States and China are the most productive and influential countries; (3) the diversity of this research is increasing, and the research content is becoming more explicit and systematic. Most research focuses on climate change, carbon sequestration, management, land-use changes, and nitrogen and soil organic carbon; (4) although traditional ecological evaluation techniques were essential early on, remote sensing and modeling have become the primary methods for assessment; (5) keyword clustering allows the classification of the research into six relatively independent subtopics: climate change and terrestrial ecosystems, sequestration and organic-carbon, ecosystem services, nitrogen and carbon cycling, biomass and forest, and blue carbon, which provides a reference for further research on ecological carbon sequestration and carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the temporal and spatial evolution of carbon sinks in state-owned forest regions (SOFRs) and the efficiency of increased carbon sinks, this study used panel data from 19 periods in 40 key SOFRs in Heilongjiang Province from 2001 to 2019. Additionally, combined with geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) technology, the individual fixed-effect model was used to estimate the number of forest management investment (FMI) lagging periods, and the panel threshold model was used to investigate the differences in the FMI efficiency in various forest regions. From 2001 to 2019, the carbon sink of key SOFRs in Heilongjiang Province showed an upward trend over time, with a growth rate of 20.17%. Spatially, the phenomenon of "increasing as a whole and decreasing in a small area" was found, and the carbon sink of each forest region varied greatly. The standard deviation ellipse of the carbon sink presented a "southeast–northwest" pattern and had "from southeast to northwest" migration characteristics. The FMI amount from 2001 to 2019 showed an upward trend, with a total of CNY 46.745 billion, and varied greatly among forest regions. Additionally, the carbon sink amount in each SOFR affected the FMI efficiency. The threshold of the model was 5,327,211.8707 tons, and the elastic coefficients of the impact of FMI below and above the threshold on the carbon sink were 0.00953 and 0.02175, respectively. The latter's FMI efficiency was 128.23% higher than that of the former. Finally, the increase in FMI to a carbon sink followed the law of diminishing marginal benefits. Therefore, the government should rationally plan the level of FMI in each SOFR to improve the FMI cost-effectiveness and help achieve the goal of "carbon neutrality". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the current background of carbon neutrality, the quantification of carbon neutrality in Qinling Mountains, the calculation of the spatial service scope, and the estimation of economic value are of great significance for the improvement of carbon neutrality spatial planning and the carbon trading market. The Intelligent Urban Ecosystem Management System (IUEMS) was used to calculate the carbon sequestration of the Qinling Mountains. The carbon emission of Qinling Mountains was spatialized through model fitting, using the night light data and energy consumption data of various cities. The static carbon content of the Qinling Mountains was obtained. Combined with the common gas diffusion coefficient, under normal temperature and pressure, the service range of the Qinling Mountains' carbon neutralization to the surrounding area was calculated. The spatial distribution of carbon sequestration in 2030 and 2050 was simulated using Patch generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model and Net Present Value (NPV) model. Under two discount rates, the model could calculate the carbon value in 2012, 2016, 2020, 2030, and 2050, respectively. The results proved that the value of carbon in the Qinling Mountains is gradually increasing. Since 2012, the service range of carbon neutralization in the Qinling Mountains was 175–262.63 km, and the service range has been gradually expanded. The discount rate is inversely proportional to the carbon value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]