Biogenic carbon—capture and sequestration

Biogenic carbon emissions are those that originate from biological sources such as plants, trees, and soil. Biogenic carbon emissions relate to the natural carbon cycle and there is significant interest in quantifying how plants capture CO₂ in the process of photosynthesis, how it is lost in respiration and stored in biomass (both living and dead), and finally biologically sequestered into long-term biological stores in the soil. This biogenic terrestrial carbon cycle offers significant potential for greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reductions and here we summarise findings for the major bioenergy crops, for biogenic carbon fluxes, and stores that contribute to biological carbon sequestration. The quantification of biogenic carbon in recent years has proved to be a highly controversial topic, since this stored carbon is used in national GHG inventories and in estimating whether bioenergy crops are sustainable.