The Amazon has emitted more carbon than it absorbed since 2010, study says Isabella O'Malley The Brazilian Amazon Rainforest, dubbed the ‘lungs of the Earth’ for the vast amounts of oxygen it provides us and the crucial role it plays in regulating the climate, has actually been emitting more carbon dioxide than it has sequestered since 2010. This finding comes from a study published in Nature Climate Change that reports the Amazon released 16.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide between 2010–2019, which is 20 per cent more than the 13.9 billion tonnes that were captured. While many factors have hindered the rainforests from removing enormous amounts of carbon from the air, the international team of researchers found that degradation actually played a bigger role than deforestation. Degradation refers to the activities that leave the rainforest damaged, but not destroyed.