Ionic liquids (ILs) have shown great potential in CO 2 capture from the exhaust of fossil fuels burning due to their unique structures and properties. Since the flue gas often contains a small amount of water, understanding the effect of water is critical for the direct capture of postcombustion CO 2 by ionic liquids. In recent years, the effect of water in CO 2 capture by ILs has been studied in some details, but little is known of the new species produced after humid CO 2 capture and thus for the system composition as well as the contribution of each absorption site of ILs to the capture capacity of CO 2 . In this work, a simple amino acid ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3methylimidazolium glycinate ([C 2 mim][Gly]), has been prepared and used to absorb humid CO 2 at 25 °C, and a quantitative approach is established to estimate the absorption capacity of CO 2 by different absorption sites. It is found that the absorption capacity of CO 2 is as high as 0.91 mol CO 2 per mol IL in the wet environment, which is nearly double that of dry CO 2 by neat IL. Quantitative investigations by multiple spectral techniques and quantum chemical calculations indicate that the inhalation of H 2 O results in the production of [HCO 3 ] − in the system and activation of the C2 site of the imidazolium cation. It is this activated site that reacts with CO 2 to form imidazolium-2-carboxylate (NHC-CO 2 ) and significantly improves the absorption capacity of CO 2 . This is remarkably different from the absorption of dry CO 2 , in which anions of the IL are predominant for the absorption of CO 2 .