2,500
kg C/ha/yr
9,166.75
kg CO2e/ha/yr
25,000
kg C/yr
91,667.5
kg CO2e/yr
91.668
t CO2e/yr
2,500
kg C/ha/yr
9,166.75
kg CO2e/ha/yr
25,000
kg C/yr
91,667.5
kg CO2e/yr
91.668
t CO2e/yr
The Carbon Sequestration Rate Calculator estimates how much carbon dioxide an ecosystem or forest removes from the atmosphere through biomass growth. Carbon sequestration is the process by which CO2 is captured and stored in plant biomass, soils, and sediments. It is a critical ecosystem service in the fight against climate change.
This calculator converts annual biomass gain to carbon stored (using the carbon fraction, typically 0.5 for wood) and to CO2 equivalent (multiplying by 3.67, the ratio of CO2 molecular weight to carbon atomic weight). It helps foresters, land managers, and climate researchers quantify the carbon offset potential of ecosystems.
Carbon sequestration is calculated as:
Cseq = Biomass Gain × Carbon Fraction
CO2 Equivalent = Cseq × 3.67
Where:
Total sequestration is then multiplied by the area in hectares.
Inputs
Results
A 10-hectare young forest sequesters 25 tonnes of carbon (91.75 tonnes CO2 equivalent) per year.
Inputs
Results
A 100-hectare tropical reforestation project sequesters 376 tonnes of carbon (1,380 tonnes CO2) annually.
Dry plant biomass is approximately 50% carbon by weight. This fraction varies slightly by tissue type: wood is about 47-50% carbon, leaves are about 45%, and roots about 46%. The default of 0.5 is a widely accepted approximation used by the IPCC and forestry agencies.
The 3.67 factor converts carbon mass to CO2 mass. One mole of CO2 has a molecular weight of 44 g/mol (12 for carbon + 32 for two oxygens), while one mole of carbon weighs 12 g/mol. So 44/12 = 3.667, meaning each kilogram of carbon corresponds to 3.67 kg of CO2.
No. Young, fast-growing forests sequester more carbon per year than mature forests, which have reached a near-equilibrium between growth and decomposition. Tropical forests generally sequester more than temperate or boreal forests due to year-round growing conditions, though boreal soils store enormous amounts of carbon.
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