The current and future of terrestrial carbon balance over the Tibetan Plateau

The contemporary carbon balance over the Tibetan Plateau is highly uncertain with a ten-fold difference between various estimates. In a warming world, the potential exists for a large carbon release from its permafrost which could compromise China’s 2060 carbon-neutral goal. Here, we used a satellite- and inventory-based approach, ecosystem models, and atmospheric inversions to estimate that the carbon sink was 33.12–37.84 TgC yr −1 during 2000–2015. The carbon sink induced by climate change and increasing CO 2 levels largely overcompensated for a livestock grazing-induced carbon source of 0.38 TgC yr −1 . By 2060, the carbon sink is projected to increase by 38.3–74.5% under moderate to high emissions scenarios, with the enhanced vegetation carbon uptake outweighing the warming-induced permafrost carbon release. The restoration of degraded grassland could sequestrate an additional 9.06 TgC yr −1 , leading to a total carbon sink of 57.78–70.52 TgC yr −1 . We conclude that the Tibetan Plateau’s ecosystems absorbed two-and-a-half times the amount of its cumulative fossil CO 2 emissions during 2000–2015 and that their carbon sinks will almost double in strength in the future, helping to achieve China’s pledge to become carbon neutral by 2060.