Nicola Jones

Here's a piece I had the pleasure of editing for Nature , which attempts to model and quantify how much the natural world (such as forests, seaweeds, etc) can reduce the planet's temperature rise by soaking up CO2. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01241-2 Their conclusion: while natural systems play a big and vital role in the fight against climate change (we can't get to net zero emissions without them), it's actually surprising how little they can pull down the peak temperature if we're aiming to top out at 1.5C temperature rise. The reason: there just isn't enough time for them to have a huge impact.  So, the authors argue, we should be thinking about the natural world as a long-term solution to climate change, not a short term fix. And that means making sure that these projects are really designed to work well for the climate, biodiversity, and local peoples, over the long haul. Projects to plant trees for their carbon-soaking abilities, for examp...

After writing my feature for Yale on blue carbon credits, here's another splash in the world of blue carbon: a mangrove project in Colombia has become first to get credits for a conservation project (rather than restoration) and to account for all the carbon packed deep into the soils beneath mangrove roots. Both of those factors help to make this a massive project, aiming to collect a million credits for a million tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next few decades. https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/premium-colombian-carbon-credits/