♣ “The goal, a big one: Carbon (as CO2) sequestration or capture” ♣
USDA NRCS – New research, led by The Nature Conservancy and 15 other institutions*, and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrates that nature-based solutions can provide up to 37 percent of the emission reductions needed by 2030 to keep global temperature increases under 2°C—30 percent more than previously estimated.
The framework of this study distills nature’s full climate potential into 20 mitigation pathways. The pathways span three biomes—forests, grasslands (including agricultural lands and rangelands) wetlands (including peatlands, seagrass and mangroves) and climate reduction practices based on conservation, restoration and land management.”
♣ Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021 ♣
Reported to Senate (06/14/2021): (currently in force):
This Act authorizes the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a voluntary Greenhouse Gas Technical Assistance Provider and Third-Party Verifier Certification Program to help reduce entry barriers into voluntary environmental credit markets for farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners. A voluntary environmental credit market is a market through which agriculture and forestry credits may be bought or sold.
Entities eligible to participate in the program are (1) providers of technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, or private forest landowners in carrying out sustainable land use management practices that prevent, reduce, or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, or sequester carbon; or (2) third-party verifiers that conduct the verification of the processes described in the protocols for voluntary environmental credit markets.
Among other requirements, USDA must publish (1) a list of protocols and qualifications for eligible entities; (2) information describing how entities may self-certify under the program; (3) information describing how entities may obtain the expertise to meet the protocols and qualifications; and (4) instructions and suggestions to assist farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners in facilitating the development of agriculture or forestry credits and accessing voluntary environmental credit markets.
USDA must also establish an advisory council to make recommendations regarding the list of protocols and qualifications, best practices, and voluntary environmental credit markets.
The bill also rescinds certain funds provided in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and makes the funds available for the certification program.
Your Carbon Eye in the Sky:
How Satellite Imagery is Helping to Transform Soil Carbon Monitoring For Growers
“Healthy soil systems act as an important natural carbon sink for the planet by sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide and helping to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations. The value of our planet’s soil as a carbon store cannot be overlooked.”
https://calendly.com/deep-planet/29min?month=2022-02
♣ Growing Climate Solutions Act♣
Significance
Most nations recently agreed to hold global average temperature rise to well below 2 °C. We examine how much climate mitigation nature can contribute to this goal with a comprehensive analysis of “natural climate solutions” (NCS): 20 conservation, restoration, and/or improved land management actions that increase carbon storage and/or avoid greenhouse gas emissions across global forests, wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural lands. We show that NCS can provide over one-third of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed between now and 2030 to stabilize warming to below 2 °C. Alongside aggressive fossil fuel emissions reductions, NCS offer a powerful set of options for nations to deliver on the Paris Climate Agreement while improving soil productivity, cleaning our air and water, and maintaining biodiversity.
Abstract
Better stewardship of land is needed to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement goal of holding warming to below 2 °C; however, confusion persists about the specific set of land stewardship options available and their mitigation potential. To address this, we identify and quantify “natural climate solutions” (NCS): 20 conservation, restoration, and improved land management actions that increase carbon storage and/or avoid greenhouse gas emissions across global forests, wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural lands. We find that the maximum potential of NCS—when constrained by food security, fiber security, and biodiversity conservation—is 23.8 petagrams of CO2 equivalent (PgCO2e) y−1 (95% CI 20.3–37.4). This is ≥30% higher than prior estimates, which did not include the full range of options and safeguards considered here. About half of this maximum (11.3 PgCO2e y−1) represents cost-effective climate mitigation, assuming the social cost of CO2 pollution is ≥100 USD MgCO2e−1 by 2030. Natural climate solutions can provide 37% of cost-effective CO2 mitigation needed through 2030 for a >66% chance of holding warming to below 2 °C. One-third of this cost-effective NCS mitigation can be delivered at or below 10 USD MgCO2−1. Most NCS actions—if effectively implemented—also offer water filtration, flood buffering, soil health, biodiversity habitat, and enhanced climate resilience. Work remains to better constrain uncertainty of NCS mitigation estimates. Nevertheless, existing knowledge reported here provides a robust basis for immediate global action to improve ecosystem stewardship as a major solution to climate change.
Additionality & Voluntary Environmental Credit Markets Dave Aiken and Larry Van Tassel August 16, 2021
“The Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021, among other things, authorizes the secretary of agriculture to develop a program that facilitates farmers, ranchers and private forest landowners in participating in a voluntary environmental credit market, including land or soil carbon sequestration. One of the conditions that needs to be watched carefully as the act is further defined and, perhaps, implemented, is the concept of additionality. Additionality may require the farmer or rancher to do something different to contribute to climate solutions. Doing something different is the key phrase. It could mean doing something in addition to what is currently being done on the farm or ranch, or it could be doing something that is atypical of common practices in the area (Plastina and Wongpiyabovorn, 2021). To some, it does not seem fair to exclude a producer from benefiting from voluntary environmental credit markets because they have been practicing environmentally sound practices for several years. However, total exclusion is unlikely in voluntary carbon credit markets, but is more likely in regulatory compliance carbon credit markets.