One of Earth’s major carbon sinks collapsed in 2023

Extreme heat, drought and wildfires caused forests and other land ecosystems to emit almost as much carbon dioxide as they removed from the atmosphere in 2023, nearly canceling out a major natural sink of the greenhouse gas.

Researchers say the temporary decline of this sink – which usually removes about a quarter of our annual CO2 emissions from the atmosphere – bodes ill for how these ecosystems will respond to future climate change.

“It’s pretty grim,” says…