1,2,3,4,2,- 1State Key Laboratory of Soil Pollution Control and Remediation Technology, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
- 2School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Techonology, Shenzhen, China
- 3Hydro-Climate Extremes Lab (H-CEL), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- 4Ningbo Institute of Digital Twin, Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo, China
- 5Andaman Coastal Research Station for Developmet, Kasetsart University, Ranong, Thailand
- 6The World Bank Group, Washington, DC, USA
The terrestrial ecosystem is a critical carbon reservoir that faces the risk of transitioning from a carbon sink to a source under large-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies aimed at mitigating climate change. In this study, we use a fully coupled Earth system model to simulate an abrupt decline in atmospheric CO2 concentrations from near-current levels to the pre-industrial level of approximately 280 ppm. We find that the CDR-induced reductions in net primary productivity lead terrestrial ecosystems to emit carbon. It takes approximately 14 years after removal for the global land-atmosphere system to reach a new carbon equilibrium, with recovery times varying by region, particularly delayed in the tropics. Boreal ecosystems play a key compensatory role by absorbing the excess carbon released from other regions, thereby helping to restore the global carbon balance. These findings underscore the pressing need for improved land management and a holistic approach that combines natural and technological CDR to achieve net-zero emissions targets.
How to cite: Liang, L., Liang, S., Zeng, Z., Ziegler, A., Chen, Y., Tao, Y., Jin, Y., Wang, D., Wu, T., and Zhang, D.: Response of terrestrial ecosystems carbon budget to large-scale direct CO2 removal using Community Earth System Model, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-2101, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-2101, 2026.
