Why land-use emissions have fallen by a third this century – in six charts

Emissions from land-use change – including deforestation, loss of peatland and forest degradation – have been falling over the course of the 21st century.

The latest Global Carbon Budget report, formally published in May in the journal Earth System Science Data, notes a “statistically significant decrease” in land-use change emissions since the late 1990s.

The 21st-century decline in land-use emissions has accelerated in recent years, with the report highlighting a “steep drop” after 2015.

Writing for Carbon Brief in November 2025, climate scientists Dr Zeke Hausfather and Prof Pierre Friedlingstein noted that land-use emissions in 2025 had decreased by “around 32% compared to their average in the 2000s”. 

Via six charts, Carbon Brief explores how – and why – land-use emissions have fallen over the past quarter of a century as fossil-fuel emissions have continued to climb.