Carbon storage through China's planted forest expansion

Kai Cheng; Haitao Yang; Shengli Tao; Yanjun Su; Hongcan Guan; Yu Ren; Tianyu Hu; Wenkai Li; Guangcai Xu; Mengxi Chen; Xiancheng Lu; Zekun Yang; Yanhong Tang; Keping Ma; Jingyun Fang; Qinghua Guo

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-48546-0

Carbon storage through China's planted forest expansion

Nat Commun. 2024 May 15;15(1):4106. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48546-0.

Authors

Kai Cheng^#^{1

2}, Haitao Yang^#¹, Shengli Tao², Yanjun Su^{3

4}, Hongcan Guan⁵, Yu Ren^{1

2}, Tianyu Hu^{3

4}, Wenkai Li⁶, Guangcai Xu⁷, Mengxi Chen¹, Xiancheng Lu¹, Zekun Yang¹, Yanhong Tang², Keping Ma^{3

4}, Jingyun Fang^{2

8}, Qinghua Guo^{9

10}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System, School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
² Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China.
⁴ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
⁵ School of Tropical Agriculture and Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou, 571737, China.
⁶ School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China.
⁷ Beijing GreenValleyTechnology Co. Ltd, Beijing, 100091, China.
⁸ Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
⁹ Institute of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System, School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China. guo.qinghua@pku.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China. guo.qinghua@pku.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

China's extensive planted forests play a crucial role in carbon storage, vital for climate change mitigation. However, the complex spatiotemporal dynamics of China's planted forest area and its carbon storage remain uncaptured. Here we reveal such changes in China's planted forests from 1990 to 2020 using satellite and field data. Results show a doubling of planted forest area, a trend that intensified post-2000. These changes lead to China's planted forest carbon storage increasing from 675.6 ± 12.5 Tg C in 1990 to 1,873.1 ± 16.2 Tg C in 2020, with an average rate of ~ 40 Tg C yr^-1. The area expansion of planted forests contributed ~ 53% (637.2 ± 5.4 Tg C) of the total above increased carbon storage in planted forests compared with planted forest growth. This proactive policy-driven expansion of planted forests has catalyzed a swift increase in carbon storage, aligning with China's Carbon Neutrality Target for 2060.