![\"Cattle](\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2021\/09\/ed9ffe32-gp01jvp-1024x683.jpg\" "\\"Cattle")
When we think about carbon emissions we often think of oil drilling, smokestacks billowing, and coal burning. What we also need to consider is the way that environmental degradation such as deforestation also contributes to those emissions, as well as reduces the planet’s ability to capture and store carbon. In order to better understand how human activities create and perpetuate the climate crisis, we must think about the impact of adding carbon to the atmosphere alongside the impact of reducing the planet’s ability to store it. <\/p>\n\n
By taking such a holistic view, we get a clearer picture of who is driving the climate crisis as well as what climate action is needed. <\/p>\n\n
A new analysis by Carbon Brief<\/a> has listed the ten biggest polluting countries in the world and how much they have contributed to the current situation of the planet. What\u2019s new in the study is the inclusion of emissions from deforestation and land use, which has bumped offending countries like Brazil up in the list.<\/p>\n\n Brazil is a country that has always been proud of its clean energy grid — mostly coming from hydroelectric power. However, not accounting for the carbon emissions from the destruction of the Amazon and other vital ecosystems — and from industrial agriculture — in the country is deceiving. Based on the new analysis, Brazil is the fourth most carbon-emitting country in the world. Yet, each year that passes, we see more and more forest destruction. Since the right-wing president Bolsonaro took office, deforestation in the Amazon has exploded, with an area of forest the size of 3.300 soccer fields being wiped out every day<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n The emissions from clearing out forests are not the only threat deforestation poses to the global climate. Along with the oceans, forests are a major source of uptake of global emissions. That means we need the forests standing to capture the carbon we\u2019re releasing into the atmosphere. <\/p>\n\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2021\/10\/d8baf53b-gp1svzwt-1024x683.jpg\" "\\"Area")
\u00a9 Victor Moriyama \/ Amaz\u00f4nia em Chamas<\/div>” alt=”Area of forest destroyed by fires in the Amazon.