New study finds nature is vital to beating climate change

Better stewardship of the land could have a bigger role in fighting climate change than previously thought, according to the most comprehensive assessment to date of how greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced and stored in forests, farmland, grasslands and wetlands using natural climate solutions.

The scientists from The Nature Conservancy and 15 other institutions, and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, expanded and refined the scope of land-based climate solutions previously assessed by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), phys.org wrote.

The findings are expected to bolster efforts to ensure that large scale protection, restoration and improved land management practices needed to stabilize climate change are achieved while meeting the demand for food and fiber from global lands.

Accounting for cost constraints, the researchers calculated that natural climate solutions could reduce emissions by 11.3 billion tons per year by 2030 — equivalent to halting the burning of oil, and offering 37 percent of the emissions reductions needed to hold global warming below two degrees Celsius by 2030.

Without cost constraints, natural climate solutions could deliver emissions reductions of 23.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, close to a third (30 percent) more than previous estimates.