[en] Recent experimental investigations of carbon erosion in ASDEX Upgrade showed that not only physical sputtering but also chemical erosion greatly contributes to the rate of graphite release from the walls in this tokamak. The report contains a model of chemical dry etching of graphite in hydrogen which describes the temperature dependence of the etching rate, taking into account the transition from CH₄ to CH as the main etching product with increasing graphite temperature. The model has been developed and tested some years ago in connection with low-temperature dry etching experiments in hydrogen glow discharges where it was shown that the etching rate R is a non-monotonic function of the graphite temperature with a minimum in the range between 250 K and 290 K. R forms a high plateau for graphite temperatures above 450 K. Possible application to fusion experiments like ASDEX Upgrade, which use carbon tiles on plasma exposed surfaces, are discussed. (orig.)