‘Carbon timebomb’: climate crisis threatens to destroy Congo peatlands

Vast carbon store may be close to point where it could flip from absorbing CO₂ to releasing it, research shows

The Congo peatlands are a huge carbon timebomb" that could be triggered by the climate crisis, research has shown.

The peatlands flipped from storing carbon to releasing it into the atmosphere when the climate became drier 5,000 years ago, the study showed, before returning to accumulating carbon 2,000 years ago.