Abstract Globally, deforestation produces anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, contributing substantially to climate change. Forest cover changes also have large impacts on ecosystem services. Deforestation is the dominant type of land cover change in tropical regions, and this land cover change relates to distinct causes recognized as direct deforestation drivers. Understanding these drivers requires a significant effort. Further, GHG emissions due to deforestation are quantified only in terms of biomass removal, while linking emissions from soil organic carbon (SOC) loss to deforestation is lacking. A closer picture of associated ecosystem service changes due to deforestation is also needed. We analyze for 2001–2010: (1) the magnitudes of deforestation drivers, (2) the related carbon loss, and (3) the ecosystem service value change. On the global scale, agriculture (90.3%) is the primary deforestation driver, where grassland expansion contributed the most (37.5%). The deforestation drivers differ in magnitude and spatial distribution on the continental scale. The total carbon loss by biomass removal and SOC loss accounted for 8797 Mt C and 1185 Mt C, respectively. Furthermore, tropical deforestation caused the ESV loss of 408 billion Int.$ year $$^{-1}$$ - 1 , while the resulting land cover has the ESV of 345 billion Int.$ year $$^{-1}$$ - 1 . Our findings highlight that agriculture substantially contributes to global carbon loss and ecosystem service loss due to deforestation. The deforestation drivers differ in magnitude and distribution for different continents. Further, we highlight the danger of putting a monetary value on nature.

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