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Climate and land use

Forgive us our carbon debts

Sugar cane ethanol replaces fossil fuels, but changes in soil carbon could offset some of the benefit. Now, a study shows minor loss of soil carbon when pastures and croplands are converted to cane, but larger losses when converting native savannahs.

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Figure 1: Potential allocation of existing cleared lands in Brazil.

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Correspondence to Marcia N. Macedo.

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Macedo, M., Davidson, E. Forgive us our carbon debts. Nature Clim Change 4, 538–539 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2279

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