According to scientists, CO2 is greening the planet. Why do globalists fight against it?

Increasing or decreasing vegetation greenness based on remote sensing is usually referred to as greening or browning. CO2 fertilization in combination with land management has determined the dominance of greening. However, recently, global signals of browning caused by drought-related stress have also been widely reported. In this study, we utilized four recent datasets on leaf area index (LAI) to investigate this controversial topic and found that global greening was not only present (trend between 3.1–6.4 × 10 -3 m2 m-2 year-1) but also continued (growth rate trend ranging from 3.3–6.4 × 10 -4 m2 m-2 year-2) from 2001 to 2020. Greening acceleration occurred over 55.15% of the Earth's surface (positive trend and positive growth rate trend), while browning acceleration only occurred over 7.28% (negative trend and positive growth rate trend). Combined with meteorological variables, we found that CO2 level change dominated the LAI trend, while climate change largely determined the growth rate trend of LAI. Importantly, our study showed that drought tendency did not necessarily cause browning of vegetation but slowed down the rate of greening. Previous studies have confirmed the fact of global greening, but most of them considered a long-term trend from 1982, meaning that all studies agreed on global greening from 1982 to 2000. However, there is no consensus on global greening after 2000. In this study, based on the latest remote sensing data, we attempt to answer the crucial question of whether our planet is greening or browning since around 2000. Our results indicated that vegetation worldwide has been greening and that greening has persisted. There has been a slight acceleration, as confirmed by previous findings. Therefore, the first thing to discuss here are the potential causes of the paradoxical phenomenon of global greening and browning after 2000. Temperature and CO2 had a positive impact, especially in China, India, and the European plain. On the other hand, precipitation and radiation had almost no influence on the LAI trend. In conclusion, based on the latest remote sensing data, we have delved into the significant issue of global vegetation change trends after 2000. Importantly, we introduced the concept of growth rate to characterize the pace of greening/browning. Our findings showed that global greening has still been present from 2001 to 2020, with 55.15% of areas greening at an accelerated pace, mainly in India and European plains, compared to 7.28% browning. Multiple linear regression analysis and partial correlation confirmed that CO2 dominated the LAI trend, while climate change determined the growth rate trend of LAI. Analyzing different subregions of the globe, we discovered that the drought tendency only slowed down global greening but was far from causing browning. These findings will enhance our understanding of carbon cycle processes and narrow the research gap in better determining whether the global vegetation condition is greening or browning in the past two decades. Source: [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989423004262]