Remote carbon cycle changes are overlooked impacts of land cover and land management changes

Guo, Suqi; Havermann, Felix; De Hertog, Steven J.; Luo, Fei; Manola, Iris; Raddatz, Thomas; Li, Hongmei; Thiery, Wim; Lejeune, Quentin; Schleussner, Carl-Friedrich; Wårlind, David; Nieradzik, Lars; Pongratz, Julia

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-631-2025

Articles | Volume 16, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-631-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-631-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 2

Research article

|

30 Apr 2025

Research article |

| 30 Apr 2025

Remote carbon cycle changes are overlooked impacts of land cover and land management changes

Suqi Guo, Felix Havermann, Steven J. De Hertog, Fei Luo, Iris Manola, Thomas Raddatz, Hongmei Li, Wim Thiery, Quentin Lejeune, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, David Wårlind, Lars Nieradzik, and Julia Pongratz

Data sets

Data for 'Remote carbon cycle changes are overlooked impacts of land-cover and land management changes' by Guo et al. (2024) Suqi Guo et al. https://www.wdc-climate.de/ui/entry?acronym=DKRZ_LTA_1147_ds00006

Downloading Instructions | Community Earth System Model National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) https://www.cesm.ucar.edu/models/cesm2/release_download.html

Model code and software

Guo_etal_2025_ESD_v1.0.0 Suqi Guo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15192278

MPI-ESM 1.2.01p7 - Edmond Model Development Team Max-Planck-Institut für Meterologie https://doi.org/10.17617/3.H44EN5

EC-Earth: A Community-Based Earth System Model EC-Earth Consortium https://ec-earth.org/

Short summary

Land cover and land management changes (LCLMCs) can alter climate even in intact areas, causing carbon changes in remote areas. This study is the first to assess these effects, finding they substantially alter global carbon dynamics, changing terrestrial stocks by up to dozens of gigatonnes. These results are vital for scientific and policy assessments, given the expected role of LCLMCs in achieving the Paris Agreement's goal to limit global warming below 1.5 °C.