Growth

Trees are carbon sinks that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and fight climate change. Forests with young trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere faster than forests with old trees. As trees become very old they take up carbon dioxide at a slower rate, and the rate at which they release carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere through death and decay accelerates. In the end a mature forest provides a reservoir where new trees absorb carbon and dieing trees emit carbon with a neutral balance.

As a tree grows and its size expands, the amount of carbon that makes up the tree also increases. This is because wood and other biomass are made up of almost 50% carbon by weight. When a forest has reached a ‘steady state’ and the growth of all young trees is exactly matched by the removal of older trees, it still continues to store carbon dioxide as a carbon reservoir.

New forests established on non-forested land are carbon sinks because they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. A carbon sink is any activity or mechanism that removes a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.

Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process by which plant matter captures solar energy and converts water and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen. Consuming plant material releases the solar energy.

Forests and wood products are carbon reservoirs. A carbon reservoir is a component of the climate system where a greenhouse gas is retained.

Wood stores carbon dioxide long after it has been turned into manufactured products, and carbon accounts for 49% of the mass of a wood product.

Increasing the quantity of wood products and timber building materials reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. For example, wooden furniture made in the 1500s still holds the carbon fixed from that time.