Regional differences in the contribution of drivers to carbon sequestration and oxygen release from global terrestrial ecosystems

Understanding the scale transmission of the drivers underlying carbon sequestration and oxygen release (CSOR) is essential for climate change mitigation. However, the regional differences in the global contribution of the drivers remain unknown, limiting the effectiveness of climate policies. Based on the United Nations’ geographical divisions and data from 2000 to 2020, we show that vegetation, evapotranspiration, and temperature are the main contributors to CSOR in more than 70 % of the world and that there are spatial differences in their action direction (facilitating or inhibiting). Drivers show nonlinear effects on CSOR and have different thresholds in different regions. Significant interactions existed among the factors, either superimposed enhancement or mutual offset, depending on the regions. If regional differences in drivers’ global contributions are neglected, attempts to address climate change in various regions may offset each other. Considering both top-down and bottom-up scale transmission can improve the effectiveness of policy objectives.