The exponential roadmap for natural climate solutions

The most insightful session I attended during #COP27 was on new research on natural climate solutions (NCS) by legendary scientist Johan Rockström. Was it as groundbreaking as the planetary boundaries? 🛟

Scientists from Conservation International and the PIK - Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research released “The Exponential Roadmap for Natural Climate Solutions”, a first-of-its-kind blueprint for maximizing nature’s role in tackling global warming 📜

The original Carbon Law, proposed in 2017, focused on the energy, industry and transport sectors only. The "Carbon Law for Nature" finally includes solutions from land and nature 🌱

It finds that to avoid catastrophic climate change, the land sector — including agriculture and forestry — must reach net zero emissions by 2030, and it offers guidance to get there 🌳

Essentially, we need to turn working lands from vast emitters of greenhouse gasses to enormous stores of carbon, and build up the carbon storage in existing ecosystems, forests, wetlands, peatlands and grasslands 🔽

One of the most important findings is that the roadmap shows a transformation of food systems is at the heart of land-sector climate solutions — approximately 80% of natural climate solutions (NCS) mitigation opportunity is tightly linked to food systems! 🥕

While the most cost-effective opportunities for reducing emissions and removing carbon from the atmosphere all directly involve food production systems, a full food systems approach, incorporating action across production, consumption and loss and waste is required 🔁

It is a critical step toward providing communities with resources to support land stewardship, countries with the knowledge to identify and activate the climate potential of their domains, and companies and financiers with clear paths to invest in climate solutions 💰

Alongside the Roadmap’s transformative climate benefits, it also offers multiple co-benefits: increased biodiversity, clean air and water, human health and wellbeing, rural jobs, environmental justice, and biosphere resilience ✨

And to me, this is what nature-based solutions and natural climate solutions are all about. Let's bring carbon back home ❤️

What was a pivotal moment for you during COP27? 💡

#naturalclimatesolutions #naturebasedsolutions #foodsystems