The limits to northern peatland carbon stocks

Abstract

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Northern peatlands have been a persistent natural carbon sink since the last glacial maximum. If there were no limits to their growth, carbon accumulation in these ecosystems could offset a large portion of anthropogenic carbon emissions until the end of the present interglacial period. Evaluation of the limits to northern peatland carbon stocks shows that northern peatlands will potentially play an important role, second only to the oceans, in reducing the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration to the level that is typical of interglacial periods if cumulative anthropogenic carbon emissions will be kept below 1000 Pg of carbon.</p>

Expert assessment of future vulnerability of the global peatland carbon sink

“…These diverging opinions are all included in our assessment (Appendix 3), but explicit IAM simulations would allow exploration of different policies and socio-economic scenarios. Noteworthy is that extra-tropical peatlands could play an important role, second only to the oceans, in reducing the global atmospheric CO2 concentration if cumulative anthropogenic emissions are kept below 1000 GtC [91][92] . Mitigation is therefore highly important in counterbalancing the climate impact of peatland C loss 93 .…”