Amending an aberration in land use greenhouse accounting with substantial implications

LULUCF and fossil fuel emissions 1750-2021, with gross accounting for LULUCF. Based on GCP data (Friedlingstein et al., 2022). Article submitted to Science on Sept 1, 2023. Title: Amending an aberration in land use greenhouse accounting with substantial implications Authors: Gerard Wedderburn-Bisshop1*, Abraham H. Oort2 Affiliations: 1 World Preservation Foundation; Unit 43 Newhaven Enterprise Centre, Denton Island, Newhaven BN9 9BA, United Kingdom. 2 NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (retired); Princeton, NJ. *Corresponding author. Email: gerard@worldpreservationfoundation.org Abstract: By convention, the only carbon dioxide (CO2) emission source measured with net accounting is land use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF), whereas all other sources are measured with gross accounting. Using consistent gross accounting and removing the artificial distinction between ‘managed’ and ‘intact’ land, we find cumulative LULUCF CO2 emissions to be four times greater than cumulative CO2 from fossil fuels. We also find that vegetation and the oceans have removed from the atmosphere 80% of all anthropogenic CO2 emitted since 8,000BC, equivalent to 2.4 times cumulative fossil fuel emissions. This demonstrates the immense potential of biosphere drawdown, provides fresh insight into mitigation priorities, and firmly places LULUCF as the main CO2 emission source. One-Sentence Summary: Carbon dioxide emissions are counted differently depending on their source: consistent accounting finds deforestation to be the primary emissions source and fossil fuels to be secondary