The need for urgent and ambitious investment in the Climate and Nature crises is a call to action for us all. As individuals, communities and business leaders, we have an obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by restoring our atmosphere and our natural ecosystems to sustainable levels.

The gap between countries’ pledges and the removals required to meet Paris targets is huge – estimated at ~7 billion tCO2e per year in 2050 (Oxford University/stateofcdr.org, 2023) which is around 15x the current emissions of the UK. Whilst we must hope that technical solutions such as direct air capture (DAC) and biochar will one day become economically viable, the only viable, scalable solutions available today are nature-based carbon removals – good old photosynthesis and storage by trees, soils, wetlands, blue carbon.  We don’t have time to waste hoping for a technical fix.

… Also, an opportunity:

Thousands of the the world’s largest companies have set goals to reach Paris-compliant net-zero by 2050, and many have committed to short- and long-term science-based targets. To meet these targets, in addition to dramatic emissions reductions, massive nature-based carbon removals must be contracted for as soon as possible. 

This is a huge challenge, but also an incredible opportunity to transform economic conditions for local communities at the same time as restoring degraded ecosystems.