Natural Climate Solutions

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and U.S. Nature4Climate invite you to watch a briefing on natural climate solutions on the international stage. Across the United States, agricultural producers are practicing regenerative agriculture, foresters are managing forests to increase carbon sequestration and reduce wildfires, and coastal communities are restoring living shorelines. How will these natural climate solutions be discussed and advanced during the international climate negotiations in Egypt (COP27)? What policies are needed here in the United States to reinforce these efforts? What examples of U.S. leadership on natural climate solutions should be shared with people from around the world at COP27?  

During this briefing, panelists responded to these questions and shared insights about ways in which natural climate solutions have been integrated into international climate negotiations in the past. They also shared a vision of how these techniques can be central to advancing climate solutions at the national and international levels going forward. 

 

Highlights

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

According to U.S. Nature4Climate, natural climate solutions “are conservation, restoration, and improved land management strategies that help remove carbon from the air while also keeping our air and water clean and our soil healthy and productive.” About 37 percent (or more than a third) of the global emission reductions needed by 2030 to keep the rise in global average temperature below 2°C (3.6°F) can come from natural climate solutions. At COP27, the United States will prioritize forest and ecosystem conservation to bolster critical carbon sinks. The United States is seeking to catalyze private sector investment while simultaneously increasing the ambition of governments and other stakeholders. The United States has pledged $9 billion in international climate funding to support forest conservation.  The United States’ nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement specifies that blue carbon ecosystems (i.e., coastal wetlands) are important in reducing emissions. The United States is among 71 countries that included ocean-based measures in their updated climate goals. Methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, will be a topic of conversation at COP27. Forty percent of all methane emissions come from the agricultural sector. The United States may be able to decrease methane emissions by 25 percent by 2030, and other countries could achieve an even greater reduction by increasing the efficiency of their technologies.

 

John Verdieck, Director of International Climate Policy, The Nature Conservancy

• Climate change affects the entire globe and no one country can solve the issue alone. We need international cooperation to coordinate greenhouse gas emissions reductions and build resilience.
• Going into this year’s international climate negotiations, COP27, most of the Paris Agreement Rulebook has been agreed. Countries know what to do, but we still do not have the means of implementation. How do we do the work on the ground? How do we finance that work?
• The United States’ new nationally determined contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement commits to a 50 to 52 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. The United States has been joined by Canada, Japan, and China in proposing new, more ambitious NDCs.
• Before these new NDCs were announced last year, global emissions were on a trajectory to lead to 3.7°C (6.7°F) of warming. These new pledges have bent the curve and would bring us down to 2.4°C (4.3°F) of warming.
• The United States is now well-positioned to implement its NDC with recently enacted laws and budget provisions. This ability to implement its pledges gives the United States a better position to negotiate with other countries on climate policy at COP27.

• According to research led by The Nature Conservancy, about 37 percent (or more than a third) of the global emission reductions needed by 2030 to keep the rise in global average temperature below 2°C (3.6°F) can come from natural climate solutions.
• Reforestation is likely to play the largest part in future climate solutions.
• As natural climate solutions lower greenhouse gas emissions, there will also be secondary benefits such as cleaner air and water, more biodiversity, and healthier soil.
• The United States Natural Climate Solutions Mapper shows that 770 million tons per year of emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent can be reduced in the United States, if all natural climate solutions are employed.

 

Trey Lord, Senior Technical Manager, 1t.org, American Forests

• Roughly 20 percent of global emissions come from deforestation and forest degradation each year.
• Forests not only play an integral role in the human experience, but they also serve as a natural climate solution by removing carbon from the atmosphere. Forests currently absorb 15 percent of fossil fuel emissions generated by the United States annually, and they have the potential to absorb up to 27 percent of current U.S. emissions.
• Forests act as a sink and absorb greenhouse gas emissions, but they can also be an irrecoverable source of carbon emissions when not properly conserved.
• Agriculture is one of the main drivers of deforestation, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Brazil, and Indonesia. Specific industries that drive deforestation include cattle farming, palm oil, soy, cocoa, rubber, and coffee.
• The best opportunity to mitigate climate change is to conserve, restore, and grow forests. Actions include combating deforestation and forest degradation; restoring forest landscapes; enabling rights-based land use; and unlocking the economic and social benefits of forest conservation.
• The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (P.L. 117-58), which includes the REPLANT Act, the "Executive Order to Strengthen America’s Forests, Boost Wildfire Resilience, and Combat Global Deforestation," and the Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-169) all provide funding for forest conservation.
• Forests have been on the agenda and a major part of international climate negotiations since 2007. The most significant resulting program is REDD+ or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. REDD+ focuses on using financing tools to empower local communities in developing countries to reverse deforestation and forest degradation.
• At COP26, more than 140 countries pledged to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030 through the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use. There was also a $19.2 billion financing pledge to protect and restore forests by 2025.
• At COP27, the United States will prioritize forest and ecosystem conservation to bolster critical carbon sinks. The United States is seeking to catalyze private sector investment while simultaneously increasing the ambition of governments and other stakeholders.
• The United States has pledged $9 billion in international climate funding to support forest conservation.

 

Courtney Durham, Officer, International Conservation Unit, The Pew Charitable Trusts

• There has been burgeoning interest in ocean and coastal issues over the past five years.
• The ocean absorbs 90 percent of excess atmospheric heat and 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, which maintains balance in the atmosphere.
• The ocean’s capacity to stabilize the climate is in jeopardy as emissions continue to rise and the ocean cannot keep up.
• A healthy ocean could contribute up to 21 percent of the emission reductions needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.
• Blue carbon—which refers to coastal wetlands, specifically salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrass meadows, all of which are particularly good at taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it in soil for long periods of time—is critical to the climate conversation.
• There is internationally-recognized guidance on measuring carbon intakes from blue carbon ecosystems, making them more actionable for policymakers than other ocean systems.
• At the subnational level, Oregon is the first state in the United States to account for blue carbon benefits.
• At the national level, the new U.S. NDC specifies that blue carbon ecosystems are important in reducing emissions, sending an important international message about the role of nature in reducing emissions. This puts the United States in a strong position to ramp up ambition among other countries around ocean ecosystems at COP27.
• At the international level, the United States is among 71 countries that included ocean-based measures in their updated climate goals. For example, the Seychelles has committed to protecting 50 percent of its seagrass and mangrove habitats by 2025 and 100 percent by 2030.
• COP27 will be a useful platform to amplify climate action around coastal and ocean ecosystems. There will likely be progress in including ocean and coastal considerations within the first global stocktake process.

 

Britt Groosman, Vice President, Climate-Smart Agriculture, Environmental Defense Fund

• The international community is finally talking about agriculture in the same context as the climate. In the past, agriculture has been considered too controversial and too complex, in part because of the number of stakeholders involved.
• Farmers and agriculture are at the forefront of experiencing climate impacts. U.S. agriculture also has an enormous environmental impact and is estimated to account for about 10 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
• At a global scale, and factoring in deforestation associated with agriculture, the environmental impact of the sector can be up to 30 percent of global emissions.
• In 2020, the Environmental Defense Fund, Farm Bureau, National Farmers Union, and National Council of Farmer Cooperatives created a coalition called the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA). This group discusses climate policies within the context of food and agriculture.
• The Biden-Harris Administration has also increased efforts to address climate impacts on and emissions from the agricultural sector.
• The Inflation Reduction Act has set aside about $20 billion for the agricultural sector.
• The Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities currently funds $2.8 billion in projects, which is expected to increase to over $3 billion as smaller projects are announced.
• At COP27, countries are expected to discuss methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases. Forty percent of all methane emissions come from the agricultural sector.
• The United States may be able to decrease methane emissions by 25 percent by 2030, and other countries could achieve an even greater reduction by increasing the efficiency of their technologies.
• Reducing nitrogen use in the agriculture sector is also a big opportunity for climate action, especially by addressing the overuse of fertilizer.
• The agriculture sector needs to focus on decreasing emissions and increasing conservation. A large focus needs to be on grasslands, forests, and wetlands.

 

Q&A

 

Q: What are some examples of adaptation and mitigation benefits of natural climate solutions? How do natural climate solutions help protect communities from the impacts of climate change?

Verdieck

• Scaling up projects and the geographic area they cover is going to increase adaptation and mitigation opportunities.

Lord

• In addition to serving as a vital carbon sink, on the local level, trees can bring many benefits to their environment like shade. Mangrove forests can absorb storm surge to decrease local flooding.

Durham

• Mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrass meadows are integral to reducing the impact of storms on coastal communities and ecosystems.
• These ecosystems can sequester carbon, but also provide habitat to fish, birds, and plants.
• During the recent hurricane in Florida, mangroves along the coast were shown to provide a significant shoreline buffer against storm surge.

Groosman

• Agroforestry promotes planting trees on agricultural land. It can mitigate floods and reduce nutrient runoff.
• Avoiding conversion of native rangelands, wetlands, and peatlands to agricultural land is also very important.
• Healthier soils will lead to better yields without having to use fertilizer, which promotes both better food production and climate mitigation.

 

Q: How do you see biodiversity entering the conversation at COP27? What is important for Congress to think about in terms of the biodiversity and climate nexus?

Lord

• The United States could play a key role in emphasizing the importance of biodiversity. The United States is the only member of the United Nations not to have signed on to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Signing on to this convention is vital for the United States to boost its role in advancing biodiversity.
• The State Department has taken the important step of appointing Monica Medina to be the Special Envoy for Biodiversity and Water Resources.

Groosman

• It is very odd that the United States has not signed the Convention on Biological Diversity. It is a really important adaptive measure to have biodiversity.
• In agriculture, climate impacts are already happening, meaning farmers might need to access more diverse crop varieties and decrease monocropping.
• Avoiding conversion of natural ecosystems to agricultural land will also lead to both climate mitigation and biodiversity benefits.

Durham

• Interlinkages between the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are super important in terms of how their agenda and rules can reinforce rather than dilute each other.
• More integrated approaches across international policy processes can help with clarity on implementation and seeking high-quality outcomes.

 

Q: How much should we be counting on natural climate solutions to be permanent?

Lord

• There is permanence as long as we protect forests.

Groosman

• From an economist’s perspective, it will be permanent as long as we make it worth people’s while that trees and other natural climate solutions stay where they are. Make sure the forests are worth more standing than cut down and make sure that farmers and ranchers have incentives to keep carbon in their soils.

Durham

• Permanence is a challenge with any policy and is not limited to natural climate solutions.
• There is going to be a need for high integrity when assessing carbon sequestration potential. Buffers are needed in the event of destructive storms or wildfires that impact an ecosystem.

Verdieck

• There is a limited window of opportunity to mitigate the worst of climate change. Countries and other stakeholders must do everything they can in the short term to keep global warming below 2°C (3.6°F) or 1.5°C (2.7°F).

 

Compiled by Nick Solis and Elina Lingappa and edited for clarity and length. This is not a transcript.

 

This briefing is part of a Congressional briefing series, What Congress Needs to Know About COP27:

Key Findings from the Newest Global Assessment Report on Climate Change

Climate Change Loss and Damage

Natural Climate Solutions

What’s on the Table for the Negotiations?

Climate Summit Recap: Key Outcomes and What Comes Next

 

To learn about all the briefings in the series, visit eesi.org/cop27-briefings.