carbon sink

noun

plural carbon sinks

: a location (such as the ocean, the soil, or a forest) that stores substances which contain carbon and especially carbon dioxide

Advocates of "sequestration" argue that the ocean already functions as the world's largest carbon sink: it contains 50 times more carbon dioxide than the atmosphere, most of which is stored in sediments on the ocean floor.

—Linda Baker

Research has found that drought and declining water availability are increasingly impeding the ability of tropical ecosystems to soak up carbon dioxide, making the tropics a less effective carbon sink.

—Glenn Scherer

Peatlands serve as a major carbon sink. Their defining feature is a thick soil layer of leaf litter and other dead vegetation in a waterlogged state, meaning it can't fully decompose, which prevents vast amounts of carbon emissions.

—Isabel Esterman

Examples of carbon sink in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But, peatland restoration is a long-term and imprecise solution that might take decades to properly assess, while existing peatlands are needed as a natural carbon sink now. —Toby Ann Halamka, JSTOR Daily, 6 Feb. 2025

They are aimed at monitoring and providing actionable intelligence for governments, activists and nonprofits to protect the forests that act as major carbon sinks. —Andrew Freedman, Axios, 24 Oct. 2024

Accordingly, governments should make expanding such carbon sinks a centerpiece of their contributions to the Paris goals. —Stewart Patrick, Foreign Affairs, 19 Oct. 2021

In five of the 17 years the USGS team analyzed, California’s federal lands acted as a carbon sink — not a source. —Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for carbon sink

• bobolink
• countersink
• bethink
• downlink
• groupthink
• hoodwink
• rethink
• uplink
• blink
• brink
• chink
• cinque