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Can we rely on forests to soak up the extra CO2 in the atmosphere?

A patch of old oak trees in the UK is helping scientists to predict how the world’s forests will respond to higher levels of carbon dioxide, a crucial question for our future climate

By Madeleine Cuff

11 March 2025

A forest in Staffordshire, UK, where an experiment is testing how trees respond to higher levels of carbon dioxide in the air
Shomari Healy, used by kind permission

Tucked away down a quiet country lane in the UK’s West Midlands region lies one of the most studied patches of forest in the world.

This fragment of woodland, populated mainly by 180-year-old English oak trees (Quercus robur), is at the heart of a major global project to understand how the world’s forests will cope as levels of carbon dioxide rise in the atmosphere.

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