Natural Climate Solutions:
A win-win solution for addressing climate change.

Mark Godfrey © The Nature Conservancy

Why Natural Climate Solutions Matter:

  • To stop climate change, it is necessary to both reduce fossil fuel emissions and remove greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere.
  • The fact is, we cannot reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 without nature
  • Natural Climate Solutions can help create good jobs and play a key role in our economic recovery.
  • America’s forests, grasslands, wetlands, farms and ranches are all a part of the solution to climate change.
  • Natural Climate Solutions provide numerous health and conservation benefits.
  • Natural Climate Solutions are proven, practical and backed by science.

Natural Climate Solutions:
A win-win solution for addressing climate change.

Why Natural Climate Solutions Matter:

  • To stop climate change, it is necessary to both reduce fossil fuel emissions and remove greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere.
  • The fact is, we cannot reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 without nature
  • Natural Climate Solutions can help create good jobs and play a key role in our economic recovery.
  • America’s forests, grasslands, wetlands, farms and ranches are all a part of the solution to climate change.
  • Natural Climate Solutions provide numerous health and conservation benefits.
  • Natural Climate Solutions are proven, practical and backed by science.

Mark Godfrey © The Nature Conservancy

What are Natural Climate Solutions?

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. These solutions are practical, effective, relatively inexpensive, provide numerous economic benefits to landowners and communities, and can be implemented on a wide variety of different kinds of land:

Mark Godfrey © The Nature Conservancy

Forests

Protecting forests, reforesting degraded lands, expanding urban community forest programs, and improving forest management

Mark Godfrey © The Nature Conservancy

Farms

Helping farmers and ranchers plant cover crops, use fertilizer more efficiently, improving manure management, and adopt climate-friendly strategies like biochar and alley cropping

Chris Helzer © The Nature Conservancy

Grasslands and Ranches

Preserving and restoring grasslands and improving grazing practices

Edie Thomas © The Nature Conservancy

Wetlands

Restoring tidal wetlands along our coasts and avoiding the loss of seagrass

Harley Soltes © The Nature Conservancy

Why are Natural Climate Solutions Important?

To help stop climate change, we can’t just cut future emissions— we also have to remove and sequester carbon already in the atmosphere. Natural Climate Solutions are already removing the equivalent of 11% of annual greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, but we have the potential to go even further. A recent study in the journal Science Advances highlighted the key role nature can play in addressing climate change in the U.S. It revealed that we can remove an additional 18% of the nation’s current greenhouse gas emissions, just by restoring and responsibly managing our forests, farms, ranches, grasslands, and wetlands. For example, reforestation would have the same impact as removing 64 million cars from the road.

Learn more

America’s Wetland Foundation

What are the Other Benefits of Natural Climate Solutions?

Natural Climate Solutions are voluntary conservation practices that can help restore our economy. They create good jobs that cannot be outsourced and provide new sources of income for the millions of farmers and forest owners facing unprecedented economic and environmental challenges. 

The benefits of Natural Climate Solutions extend beyond our country’s rural areas. For example,  urban community forestry programs can help create jobs, reduce energy costs, add beauty to our streets and create more recreational opportunities for everyone.

Natural Climate Solutions provide significant benefits to people beyond jobs. They can help improve the quality of our air and water, protect human health, provide additional habitat for fish and wildlife, and create more places to explore nature.

See them in action

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U.S. Nature4Climate is funded by a grant from the Doris Duke Foundation.

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