Temporary storage of carbon in the biosphere does have value for climate change mitigation: a response to the paper by Miko K...

Kirschbaum (Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Change 11:1151–1164, 2006) explores
the climatic impact over time of temporarily sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. He
concludes that temporary storage of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere ‘‘achieves effectively
no climate-change mitigation’’. His strongly worded statement begs for a response.
This paper argues that Kirschbaum’s conclusion is an artifact of the specific perspective of
his analysis and his choice of a definition for climate-change impact. Even temporary sinks
put us on a lower path for climate change, a path that will not otherwise be accessible. For
carbon sinks in the terrestrial biosphere, we argue that sooner is better and longer is better,
but even known temporary sinks have value.