Does burning wood release all of the carbon a tree has captured in its lifetime? Does a dead decomposing tree do the same?

Question

Anytime carbon capture comes up, the conversation devolves into commenters saying the entire idea is dumb and trees already exist. I’d like to know more about the full life cycle of a tree and if the carbon it captures is permanent.

In: 199

Answer 1

Close, but not quite the same. When burned all captured carbon is released, that is clear. But decomposition isn’t always complete, some biomass often gets caught in sediment layers and is fixed permanently in geological deposits. Or well, permanently until someone tens or hundreds of millions of years in the future digs it up and burns it as fossil fuel.