Although the agricultural sector is one of the largest contributors to climate change, there is enormous potential for improved management practices to position agriculture as part of the solution.
Implementing practices that sequester carbon in the soil and recapturing even a fraction of the soil carbon debt accrued over the past 12,000 years would be a significant carbon drawdown strategy. Rebuilding soil carbon stocks is also regarded as a key pillar of improving soil health and long-term agricultural sustainability.
Despite these dual benefits of managing cropland for soil carbon sequestration, farmers’ adoption rates of carbon-storing practices remain very low. Given the high corporate demand for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a market that can connect buyers with sellers of soil carbon credits could rapidly scale adoption of carbon-friendly agricultural practices. However, a market must have strong and enforceable rules in place to ensure that credits generated are real, additional (emissions reductions would go beyond “business as usual”), and likely to lead to long-term net climate benefits.
Woodwell Climate Research Center is working with agricultural and environmental leaders to identify and close key information gaps to enable effective soil carbon markets.
Our Work
- We are systematically identifying key scientific uncertainties in emerging voluntary soil carbon markets. In collaboration with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), we have surveyed existing voluntary carbon market protocols and found a high level of variability. In a report synthesizing the current unregulated voluntary carbon market, we argued that different methods, protocols, and standards can lead to a wide range in the quality and quantity of credits generated and transacted. In a policy brief in the journal Science, we outlined how a regional approach supported by an independent actor such as the USDA can overcome many of the current challenges these voluntary markets face in producing credible emission reductions.
- We are conducting and supporting new scientific research investigating the carbon impact of cover cropping. In collaboration with EDF, the National Corn Growers Association, Iowa Corn Grower’s Association, Iowa Soybean Association, and a cooperative of 18 farmers in Iowa, we are evaluating the net impacts of 5-9 years of winter cover cropping on the quantity and stability of soil carbon. To do this, we are measuring soil carbon and associated soil properties down to one meter across the strip trials these farmers are maintaining on their farms. The goal of this study is to provide an estimate of measured change in soil carbon, to use as a reference for realistic carbon sequestration to compare against modeled estimates.
- We are testing soil health indicators to track local, short-term changes indicative of soil carbon gains. Changes in soil carbon can be very small, and hard to measure and detect at the local scale, even when change is appreciable over a region. Because soil organic carbon can take a decade or longer to respond to a change in agricultural practices, measuring soil health properties can help us understand if a system is heading in the right direction in the short term. With EDF’s support, and in collaboration with Corteva Agriscience, we are exploring the spatial patterns of key soil health indicators across dozens of farms in the Midwest that are currently enrolled in the Corteva Carbon Program. Soil health indicators such as soil enzymes, active carbon, and several microbial response parameters will be evaluated for their spatial variance, and will serve as a baseline that can be revisited five years in the future.
- We are evaluating emerging soil carbon sequestering technologies. Soil amendments are a broad class of materials that can be added to soils in croplands, pastures, or rangelands to enhance their physical, chemical, or biological characteristics. There are three main ways soil amendments could contribute to climate mitigation: through soil organic carbon sequestration, soil greenhouse gas emission reductions, and life cycle emission reductions. Our research identified that some soil amendments have well established agronomic benefits and clear pathways for climate mitigation. For many newer amendments, including the broad class of biostimulants, there may be great potential, but evidence to date is slim. Increased investment in research is critically needed to establish credible bounds on the climate benefits of many products that are already being marketed to producers.
Impact
Scaling soil carbon sequestration, as with all nature-based climate solutions, requires an all-hands-on-deck approach. This project is filling key knowledge gaps and providing policymakers with shovel-ready solutions to ensure soil carbon markets can succeed in delivering real climate benefits.
Woodwell Climate partners with Wellington Management to amplify the impact of pivotal environmental research and climate risk assessments in the private sector.
Woodwell Climate Research Center = leader in actionable climate risk analyses
Wellington Management = recognized leader, over $1 trillion under management
Together, we’re setting a new standard for climate risk-aware investing.
The partnership began in 2018 with the objective of integrating climate science and asset management. Our scientists and policy experts are providing key climate data, models, and analyses that facilitate the consideration of the impacts of climate change in asset management and financial markets, and Wellington Management incorporates these insights into portfolio management decisions across the company.
Impact
- Wellington launched a Climate 101 series designed to enhance basic understanding of climate change from an investment perspective.
- Wellington and Woodwell collaboratively developed a mapping tool which allows Wellington to evaluate all perils of climate risk at an asset or portfolio level.
- In collaboration with the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), the partnership notably produced the first-ever guidelines for corporate disclosure of physical climate risk in 2019.
- Woodwell and Wellington also jointly launched a set of updated guidelines for corporate climate risk disclosure after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requested public input on the topic.
Inspired by our partnership, Wellington also became a founding member of the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, committing to carbon neutral operations by 2022 and carbon neutral investments by 2050.
National and international efforts to combat climate change are not yet close to meeting the severity of the problem; however, states and municipalities are rising to the challenge, working locally to identify solutions that can slow, offset, or facilitate adaptation to climate change.
Martha’s Vineyard, an 87-square-mile island off the southern coast of Massachusetts, is one such example. The Martha’s Vineyard Commission Climate Action Task Force (CATF) has embarked on developing an Island-wide climate action plan that includes a range of scientific and engineering studies designed to support climate-smart land management and risk reduction strategies.
Our Work
In collaboration with the CATF and Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, a local Vineyard land trust, Woodwell scientists are launching a comprehensive study with goals to:
- Understand the potential of natural climate solutions—cost-effective approaches to mitigating climate change through improved land stewardship—to increase the carbon sequestration potential of the Vineyard’s forests, soils, and wetlands. Key questions include: How much additional carbon can the Vineyard’s natural and working lands sequester? Where can improved land management practices lead to emissions reductions?
- Evaluate the risks to Vineyard communities from climate-driven natural hazards. Key questions include: What hazards pose the greatest risk? What parts of the Island are most threatened? Can these risks be mitigated and what will potential interventions cost?
Impact
The results of this study will be incorporated into a series of guidance documents on best practices for realizing natural climate solutions across the Vineyard’s forested, agricultural, coastal, and managed lands as well as in a set of risk assessments to address the threats from climate-driven natural hazards facing the six Vineyard towns. These findings will be used to inform local action around sound and sustainable decision making across a range of industries including construction, agriculture, and landscaping.
Beyond Martha’s Vineyard, this initiative can serve as a model for communities motivated to do more in their own backyards to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
We welcome Letters of Commitment from anyone interested in contributing to the Arctic T-SLIP conversations in 2024-2025, as we are submitting a Planning Proposal to NSF due July 17, 2023.
Landslides are a massive disturbance in terrestrial ecosystems—but along coastlines, the movement of tons of rock and soil into the water can generate tsunamis, posing life-threatening risks to nearby communities. Unfortunately, thawing permafrost and glacial melt have increased the potential for these types of dangerous events.
Arctic T-SLIP aims to bring together experts from academia, government agencies, and local communities to increase our understanding and preparedness of landslide-generated tsunamis in regions affected by thawing permafrost and/or melting glaciers.
The partnership evolved from a group of scientists discovering the large unstable slope in Barry Arm, Prince William Sound, Alaska in the spring of 2020. The discovery spurred the federal government to fund investigations into the hazard by increasing the USGS’ national landslide program funds. The State of Alaska also established a monitoring program and a website to inform and update the public.
In 2023, the Arctic T-SLIP is preparing a Planning Proposal to the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs “Large Project Support” to fund workshops and conferences aimed at developing several focused science projects. This includes collaborators in the US, Norway, Greenland, and Canada, for example.
Arctic T-SLIP welcomes new collaborators, please submit your interest here.
Support provided by:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
National Science Foundation (NSF)
In addition to pioneering new technologies and leading breakthrough research on Arctic warming and weather patterns, Dr. Jennifer Francis is also an award-winning science communicator. Ever since her 2012 paper first introduced the concept that Arctic warming could alter the jet stream and yield more extreme weather events, Dr. Francis has been writing, speaking, and testifying to different audiences and organizations to underscore the gravity of Arctic warming and the societal risks of the climate crisis.
With articles published in Scientific American, The Old Farmers’ Almanac, Elridge’s Tide and Pilot Book, The Conversation, The Hill, and numerous other outlets, Dr. Francis’ conversations about climate and extreme weather have engaged a broad public audience. She has presented to various types of groups, from teachers associations to White House staffers, and contributed to videos and docuseries like Eli Kintisch’s After the Ice and Rainn Wilson’s An Idiot’s Guide to Climate Change. She was tapped to contribute to Greta Thunberg’s new book, The Climate Book, and appeared in various documentaries, including Earth Emergency. Dr. Francis’ focus on science communication extends to policymakers as well. She testified to the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Security in 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, & Technology in 2019, and the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works in 2013.
Dr. Francis’ excellence in climate communications was recognized by the American Geophysical Union when she received the union’s Climate Science Communication Prize in 2020. She is frequently asked by major media outlets to provide expertise on various topics related to climate and extreme weather, and she takes every opportunity to apply her knowledge of weather and Arctic expertise in combination with her communications skills to stress the dire urgency of climate action.