The world's vegetation has a remarkable ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air and store it as biomass. Plants thus slow climate change because the CO₂ they absorb does not contribute to global warming. But what will happen with more advanced climate change? How will vegetation respond to projected changes in atmospheric CO₂, temperatures, and precipitation? Our study , published today in Science Advances, shows that plants can absorb more CO₂ than previously thought. We found that the climate modeling that best fits the processes that support plant life consistently predicted the strongest CO₂ uptake. The most complex model predicted up to 20 % more than the simplest version. Our findings highlight the resilience of plants and the importance of planting trees and preserving existing vegetation to slow climate change. While this is good news, it does not get us off the hook in the fight against climate change. The rapid increase in atmospheric CO₂ means we still need to reduce emissions. ( Jürgen Knauer, University of Western Sydney)