Estimation of China's terrestrial ecosystem carbon sink: Methods, progress and prospects

China announced its national goal to reach the peak of carbon emission by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, during the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2020. In this context, the potential of the carbon sink in China's terrestrial ecosystems to mitigate anthropogenic carbon emissions has attracted unprecedented attention from scientific communities, policy makers and the public. Here, we reviewed the assessments on China's terrestrial ecosystem carbon sink, with focus on the principles, frameworks and methods of terrestrial ecosystem carbon sink estimates, as well as the recent progress and existing problems. Looking forward, we identified critical issues for improving the accuracy and precision of China's terrestrial ecosystem carbon sink, in order to serve the more realistic policy making in pathways to achieve carbon neutrality for China.

Automated summary

The article reviews the principles, frameworks and methods of estimating carbon sink in China's terrestrial ecosystems, as well as identifying key issues for improving accuracy and precision in order to serve more realistic policy making towards achieving carbon neutrality in China.