Global Greening: A Complex Climate Factor
AI-generated context summary requested by a Free News Reader user. Sourced via Gemini from publicly available information — no paywalled content was accessed.
You hit a paywall. Here’s the context on this topic based on publicly available information. We did not access any paywalled content. View original article.
Global Greening: A Complex Climate Factor
- Satellite data indicates a significant increase in green foliage across a quarter to half of Earth's vegetated lands over the past 35 years.
- Research published in 2016, involving an international team of 32 authors, attributed 70% of this global greening to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Full Summary — powered by AI
Recent satellite imagery and scientific studies have highlighted a phenomenon known as “global greening,” indicating a substantial increase in plant life across many parts of the Earth. Analysis of NASA satellite data, among other sources, shows significant plant growth globally over the past 35 years. In 2016, NASA reported that between a quarter and half of Earth’s vegetated lands experienced significant greening, largely due to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. This greening represents an increase in leaves on plants and trees equivalent in area to twice the continental United States.
The primary driver identified for this increased plant growth is the elevated concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere, which enhances photosynthesis. A study published on April 25, 2016, in the journal *Nature Climate Change*, with an international team of 32 authors, found that carbon dioxide fertilization explains 70% of this greening effect. Nitrogen was identified as the second most important driver, accounting for 9%.
While increased CO2 can be beneficial for plant growth, it is also recognized as the main contributor to climate change, trapping heat in Earth’s atmosphere and reaching concentrations not seen in at least 500,000 years. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) considers CO2 fertilization in its assessments of climate change feedbacks and impacts on ecosystems. However, the IPCC also acknowledges that the favorable impacts of carbon dioxide on plants may be limited, as plants can adjust to increasing concentrations, and the growth boost may diminish over time. Additionally, while greening can lead to increased absorption of CO2 by vegetation, the IPCC’s 2021 report indicates that the proportion of CO2 emissions taken up by land and ocean carbon sinks is smaller in scenarios with higher cumulative CO2 emissions.
Former US President Donald Trump has expressed skepticism regarding climate change, calling it “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.” He has falsely claimed that the IPCC admitted that a high-emissions climate scenario (RCP8.5) was “wrong, wrong, wrong.” The IPCC, however, has consistently stated that human activities are causing temperatures to rise globally. In January 2026, Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the IPCC, among other international organizations.