The Amazon is no longer a carbon sink, it is an emitter

ENVIRONMENT – POLLUTION

5 NOVEMBER 2026

• The world’s largest tropical forest, referred to as the ‘lungs of the planet,’ the Amazon rainforest once acted as a vast carbon sink that helped absorb human-induced CO₂ emissions.
• But now, a study has found that the Amazon releases more CO₂ than it absorbs from the atmosphere, as it is decimated by deforestation and forest fires.
• Scientists measured CO₂ levels at different atmospheric altitudes, using research airplanes, between the years 2010 and 2024 at four Amazonian sites.
• Their findings indicated that “Amazonia is a net carbon source rather than a sink and cannot offset regional anthropogenic emissions.”
• Wildfires caused the Amazon to emit 1.17 billion more metric tonnes of carbon than it absorbed, found the study, published in the journal Nature.
• “The main message of the study is shocking: the problem in the Amazon is human activity,” said lead author and climate scientist Luciana Vanni Gatti, in a release. “We’re losing the forest because the region’s development model has been based on destruction. We need public policies that value the standing forest.”
• The Amazon, which spans five million sq.km. across nine countries, also happens to be a habitat to no less than 10% of all plant and animal species, and home to 30 million people.