Climate Scientists Hail Boost to Global Plant Growth From Higher CO2

Both the quantity and nutritional value of plants is growing around the planet due to recent increases in carbon dioxide, claim the authors of an important new science paper. The recent rise in carbon dioxide during modern industrial times, from a period of dangerous denudation, is at the centre of worldwide fearmongering designed to enforce a Net Zero collectivisation. “In fact, the only clear result of increasing CO₂ has been an overall greening of the Earth and increasing productivity of agricultural and forest crops,” state the authors.

Regular readers of the Daily Sceptic will be aware of the massive greening of the planet that has occurred over the last 40 years. Alas, this astonishing success story is inexplicably missing from most mainstream Net Zero-focused discourse. This latest paper is written by a group of scientists and published by the U.S.-based educational foundation CO₂Coalition. It is highly technical but it seeks to explain why the nutritional value of the world’s more abundant crops “can and will remain high as atmospheric CO₂ concentrations increase towards values more representative of those existing throughout most of Earth’s history”. With CO₂ levels considerably higher over most geological history, the current level of 425 parts per million (ppm) is much less than optimum for most plants, the experts observe.

For too long, note the scientists, atmospheric CO₂ has been the nutrient in shortest supply holding back plant growth. “Rising atmospheric concentrations of CO₂ have clearly been beneficial for the biosphere, agriculture, humanity and particularly for global food security at very low additional cost. Still higher concentrations will bring additional benefits,” they note. The CO₂ Coalition, supported by the work of atmospheric scientists like Emeritus Professor William Happer of Princeton, has long argued that CO₂becomes ‘saturated’ at certain levels in the atmosphere. At higher levels its warming properties diminish rapidly. Due to this ‘saturation’, which helps explain why atmospheric CO₂ concentrations been up to 20 times higher in the past without the planet turning into a fireball, “man-made CO₂ emissions are not capable of triggering dangerous future warming”.

The great success of what is termed the ‘green revolution’ is shown above. The scientists note that important factors in the dramatic increase in food production have been increased atmospheric CO₂, the development of greatly improved plant varieties and intelligent use of mineral fertilisers. The authors quote from a recent scientific paper, Taylor and Sclenker 2023, which states: “We consistently find a large CO₂ fertilisation effect: a 1 ppm increase in CO₂ equates to a 0.4%, 0.6%, 1% yield increase for corn, soybeans and wheat respectively.”

The evidence for greening of the Earth from atmospheric carbon dioxide “is now too obvious to deny”. The scientists publish the world map below to prove their point.

The above map was produced from satellite data recorded between 1982 and 2012. Greening by 20-30% was recorded in India, West Australia, the Sahel and the Anatolian highlands. Reference is also made to Chen et al. 2024, reported here in the Daily Sceptic, that found CO₂greening had actually accelerated over the last two decades. The increase in C0₂ was found to be the dominant driver of the positive trend of the Leaf Area Index over most of the global land surface.

Attempts have been made recently to downplay the benefits of more vigorous CO₂-driven plant growth by suggesting it leads to a slight dilution of some nutrients, notably nitrogen, in plant tissues. In the course of their work, the authors state that these deficiencies are small compared with the nutritional shortages that agriculture and livestock face because of natural phenomena. “These problems have been routinely dealt with for generations through adequate fertilisation, proper species and cultivar selection, and food supplements for livestock and humans,” they argue.

The numerous desirable and beneficial effects of more CO₂ in the atmosphere greatly outweigh ‘climate-damaging’ or ‘nutrient-damaging’ impacts, to the extent that these even exist. There is no ‘social cost’ of carbon, as is incorrectly claimed in numerous recent publications. In the course of their paper, the scientists say that have reviewed the literature and provided arguments that “arrive at quite a contrary view” to those who claim enhanced atmospheric CO₂ somehow threatens human nutrition. “In fact, there is a social benefit from more CO₂ in the air,” they conclude.

Chris Morrison is the Daily Sceptic’s Environment Editor.