The international team of scientists, whose research was conducted under the European Commission funded Extreme Project, contends that extreme climate events, such as droughts, heat waves and storms, weaken the buffer effect that terrestrial ecosystems have on the climate system. The researchers discovered that drought has a particular capacity to reduce the amount of carbon that is absorbed by forests, meadows and agricultural land. Their findings suggest that by diminishing the natural environment’s ability to absorb carbon, extreme weather simultaneously results from, and perpetuates, climate change. , examined how extreme weather affects forests, bogs, grassy landscapes and arable areas across the planet.