Researchers warn that due to global warming, peatlands located in permafrost zones in northern Europe and Siberia may begin to thaw, which could trigger the release of 39 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.

“Even with maximum effort” to reduce global carbon emissions and limit temperature rises, by 2040 the climate in Northern Europe will no longer be cold and dry enough to maintain the permafrost in the region's peatlands, according to a study by scientists at the University of Leeds. Peatlands store twice as much carbon as all of Europe's forests combined, but the climate crisis means these critically important ecosystems are closer to collapse than previously thought, the study concludes. (...)