CO2 sequestration by forests and bogs

The vast amounts of fossil fuels being burned around the globe mean that carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the most powerful drivers of global climate change. As no major reductions in CO₂ pollution are occurring at a global scale, the capacity of natural environments to sequester CO₂ is becoming more and more vital. Thus, any large-scale CO₂ sinks have a positive regulating effect not just locally, but globally as well. In the Alpine Space, the ecosystems with the largest sequestration capacity are forests and bogs. Every year, these ecosystems sequester CO₂ by storing it in biomass that is created as plants and trees grow. This yearly growth is known as “biomass increment” and is calculated using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change equations. These equations allow for the prediction of above- and below-ground changes in the amount of biomass, expressed in tonnes of carbon per year. The supply and flow indicators for sequestration are mapped together, because the supply is equal to the flow in this case;
all the carbon that these environments can sequester every year is in fact being sequestered. The demand indicator is calculated by assessing how much CO₂ each alpine municipality is emitting. Understanding the alpine contribution to CO₂ emission and sequestration is an important facet in coordinated action at local, regional, and global scales in the effort to mitigate global climate change. In this indicator set, only CO₂ sequestration from forests was modelled. This is due to the lack of suitable knowledge about carbon cycling processes in bogs.