Carbon Sequestration

Many countries that attended the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Kyoto, Japan, promised to learn how to mitigate the problem of climate change by managing the global carbon cycle. This resolve shows the significance of carbon sequestration for alleviating the global warming problem. Carbon sequestration refers to the provision of long-term storage of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere, underground, or in the oceans, so that the carbon dioxide (CO2) buildup in the atmosphere will decrease or slow down.

CO2 makes up approximately 47 percent of greenhouse gases (GHGs), making it a primary contributor to global warming. The level of CO2 in the atmosphere has risen from the last century (pre-industrial) level of 280 parts per million (ppm) to the present level of 375 ppm. Carbon sequestration is intended to reduce the atmospheric CO2 concentration, which is predicted to exponentially rise because of higher global energy use and extensive deforestation in the 21st century.

Carbon sequestration can be accomplished by maintaining or enhancing natural processes, such as managing forest ecosystems and storing carbon in biomass and soil, or by artificially sequestering carbon in underground geologic repositories, enhancing net oceanic carbon uptakes, and sequencing the genomes of micro-organisms for carbon management.