Many of us have heard of Project Drawdown and their practical guide to tackling the climate crisis with quantifiable solutions…but, now they are taking it one step further. They are now planning to publish a Roadmap to Accelerate Action to Address the Climate Crisis. GreenEatz attended their recent ‘testbed’ webinar – which gave us a taster of what’s to come.
As it stands, global warming has now reached the disastrous scenario of 1.0 degree Celsius of warming. It doesn’t sound like much, but we can all see with our own eyes the substantial impact this is having on our planet. With extreme weather causing drought and wildfires on the one hand – and flooding and huge storms on the other. Sea levels are rising, and the arctic ice is melting.
Project Drawdown: Solutions Library
Project Drawdown has a solutions library in place – but believes that a more strategic approach can guide us forward. Their roadmap focuses on activating and scaling the solutions that will have the most impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
For example, there is a focus on reducing carbon emissions as they linger in the atmosphere for many years. In fact, over the next 10 years, methane gas contributes to more than half of the impact of greenhouse gases. Climate investments from VCs are focused on electrifying transport whereas electricity production, food and agriculture and industry all have larger carbon footprints.
Carbon sequestration is all the rage nowadays, but the technology is in its infancy and cannot scale up in time to avert the catastrophic effects of 2.0C of warming. Instead, we currently rely heavily on natural carbon sinks such as the ocean and forests. As greenhouse gas emissions reduce (hopefully) these will also decrease naturally.
Planting trees is also a trendy solution, but trees become more effective at absorbing carbon when they are mature. And, of course, if they burn down due to wildfires, emissions actually increase, as happened in California a few years back.
Project Drawdown: Roadmap for Action
The Project Drawdown Roadmap recommends on acting NOW with technologies we already have. This will produce an integral drop that gives 20 years of impact. They also emphasize that cutting emissions should be the focus during the 2020s – and carbon removal should be gradually ramped up in the 2030s/40s.
Their Roadmap focuses on FIVE strategic areas:
| No. | Strategic Area | Actions |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Direct Emissions | Focus on efficiency, decarbonization, and societal solutions |
| 2 | Action Over Time | a. Emergency Brakes – stopping deforestation, reducing methane leaks, cutting food waste and changing diets to more plant-based. b. Low Carbon Solutions c. Social Interventions d. Nature-based Carbon Sinks e. New Climate-Tech Solutions |
| 3 | Action Across Geography | Protect mature forests, focus on biggest emitters, rationalize supply chains |
| 4 | Maximize Co-Benefits | Win-win solutions that impact climate, nature and people |
| 5 | Minimize Co-Barriers | Think holistically on policy, investments, business practices, technology and culture to work together towards divesting from carbon. |
Project Drawdown hopes that their roadmap will be a tool for governments and policy makers, as well as private corporations. It aims to guide their investments and policies into direct immediate action towards the most effective solutions. COP27 is currently in session, so let’s hope this time the world leaders will act decisively and focus on the critical areas, right NOW to help alleviate this climate emergency.
As Jon Foley, Executive Director of Project Drawdown, states, ‘We must be guided by science…to build a vision of a better world’.
