To stop climate change, we must drastically reduce fossil fuel emissions and remove greenhouse gases (GHG) already in the atmosphere. Natural Climate Solutions offer a way to make forests, wetlands, grasslands, farms and ranches part of the solution to climate change. Globally, these conservation, improved land management, and restoration practices could deliver up to a third of the carbon reduction necessary by 2030 to keep global warming in check.
While Natural Climate Solutions alone cannot solve climate change, there is no way to limit global warming to 1.5ºC without integrating these solutions alongside efforts to reduce emissions from the energy, transportation, and industrial sectors. Thankfully, conserving, restoring, and rethinking the way we manage our natural and working lands have multiple payoffs not only for climate, but also for people and our economy, for air and water quality, and for fish and wildlife.
To estimate the climate change mitigation potential of forest, grassland, agricultural, and blue carbon Natural Climate Solutions pathways, U.S. Nature4Climate worked with scientists from both coalition and external organizations in 2023 to incorporate the most up-to-date scientific literature. The results of this effort can be found below: