Ecosystem through this process supports life on earth, while the carbon makes up much of the organic matter in living and dead biomass, soil carbon and fossil fuels. It also drives the carbon cycle, which influences global climate via the greenhouse effect. Through the process of photosynthesis, plants capture energy from light and use it to combine carbon dioxide and water to produce carbohydrates and oxygen. The photosynthesis carried out by all the plants in an ecosystem is called the gross primary production (GPP). About half of the GPP is consumed in plant respiration. The remainder, that portion of GPP that
Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide carbon monoxide (CO). In carbon fixation, plants convert carbon dioxide into sugars, from which many biosynthetic pathways originate. The catalyst responsible for this conversion, RuBisCo, is the most common protein on earth. Some anaerobic organisms employ enzymes to convert CO to carbon monoxide, from which fatty acids can be made. In industry, a few products are made from CO, including urea, salicylic acid, methanol, and certain inorganic and organic carbonates. In the laboratory, carbon dioxide is sometimes used to prepare carboxylic acids. No electrochemical process involving CO has been commercialized. The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to CO is usually