Climate change is heavily related to the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere. During photosynthesis, plants absorb some of the industrial CO2 emissions from the atmosphere, making them contribute significantly to climate protection. “The CO2 increase in the atmosphere is currently lower than to be expected from anthropogenic emissions,” says Professor Almut Arneth from the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research – Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU) at KIT Campus Alpin in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. 20 to 25 percent of the CO2 released by humans into the atmosphere is currently being absorbed by plants. “This effect curbs climate change; without it global warming would have progressed further by now,” the scientist says. “The question is whether it will stay this way in the next few decades.”
