Sugarcane expansion cools climate: researchers

In California, researchers at Stanford University say that planting sugarcane in Brazil in areas where other crops were previously planted cools the climate by reflecting sunlight back into space and by lowering the temperature of the surrounding air as the plants “exhale” cooler water.

The research was recently published in the journal Nature. The study is the first to quantify the direct effects on the climate from sugarcane expansion in areas of existing crop and pastureland of the cerrado.

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