United for Climate: Broad-Based Support for Natural Climate Solutions in the U.S.
With the 2024 U.S. election looming, the future of climate action in the United States is more uncertain than ever. Natural Climate Solutions has proven to be a climate strategy capable of drawing broad-based support – not just among Democrats and Republicans, but also across geography, among farmers, forest owners, and in BIPOC communities. This has been validated by recent polling demonstrating overwhelming support among American voters. However, the broad support for Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) is also made clear through NCS-enabling legislation passed through Congress, public statements by a wide range of constituencies, and the growing rate of on-the-ground implementation of these strategies across America.
Despite the broad support for NCS, the current level of ambition for implementing these strategies at scale falls well short of their potential. A rapid acceleration of both publicly and privately-financed efforts is necessary for the U.S. to deploy NCS at the scale necessary to meet our country’s climate goals. A wide range of strategies capable of drawing bi-partisan support, from incentives for farmers and forest owners to market-based strategies exist that can help the U.S. increase its ambition.
During this event, sponsored by U.S. Nature4Climate (USN4C) and the Environmental & Energy Study Institute (EESI), USN4C staff will present the results of recent polling highlighting broad support for NCS, revealing that Americans overwhelmingly favor a broad array of policies and practices that can be utilized to implement these strategies, and providing research-informed messaging recommendations for NCS advocates. Then, a diverse panel will demonstrate the broad support for strategies that can scale up NCS implementation from a variety of different perspectives – each invited to detail how a specific strategy can help the U.S. meet its climate goals, why NCS has broad support among their constituency, and what can be done to help scale up implementation. The event will wrap with a Q&A for the expert panel.