Plants and trees are growing faster because of rising carbon dioxide levels, potentially buying Earth more time to address global warming, according to scientists…

It means they are soaking up at least some of the billions of tons of CO2 released into the atmosphere by humans that would otherwise be accelerating the rate of climate change…

Professor Martin Parry, head of plant science at Rothamsted Research, Britain’s leading crop institute, said: “There is no doubt that the enrichment of the air with CO2 is increasing plant growth rates in many areas.

“The problem is that humans are releasing so much that plants can remove only a fraction of it,” he said.