U.S. Government Support for Natural Climate Solutions Implementation

Over the past three years, the U.S. government has significantly increased funding for implementation of Natural Climate Solutions on U.S. natural and working lands, providing support for a wide array of programs designed to scale up adoption of these strategies across the country. Natural Climate Solutions are land management strategies that seek to tap into the power of forests, farms, grasslands, coastal ecosystems, and urban environments to either reduce greenhouse gas emissions or remove and sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. During this session, speakers will first provide context on the federal/state policy structure and the nature of land use authority in the U.S. Next, speakers will provide a high-level overview of the potential for additional net carbon sequestration on U.S. natural and working lands and summarize recently enacted federal government initiatives are helping to achieve this potential.

Panellists will then take a deeper dive into the various forms of federal support for Natural Climate Solutions implementation, including private-landowner incentives, federal support for Tribes and local communities, regulatory approaches, and conservation programs on U.S. public lands. This will be followed by an exploration of how the federal government is working to get funding into the hands of sub-national governments, non-profit organizations, and landowners responsible for on-the-ground implementation of Natural Climate Solutions strategies. Speakers will also discuss the monitoring, reporting and verification processes being developed to ensure that these efforts lead to significant and durable climate change mitigation.

Finally, attendees will hear from organizations that are utilizing federal government support to implement Natural Climate Solutions on the ground, with an emphasis on ensuring that these efforts are equitable and help advance the cause of environmental justice.

Speakers:

Introductory remarks:

Sacha Spector, Environment Program Director, Doris Duke Foundation

Panelists:

Britt Groosman, Vice President – Climate Smart Agriculture, Environmental Defense Fund

Heather Tallis, Assistant Director for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Sean Babington, Senior Advisor, United States Department of Agriculture

Freddie Davis, Director – Rural Training and Research Center, Federation of Southern Cooperatives

Emily Luscombe – Natural Resources Director, Intertribal Agriculture Council

Moderator:

Daniel Bresette, President, Environmental and Energy Study Institute

The Zoom Link for this session is https://tnc.zoom.us/j/93424368119