Solutions

We can solve the climate crisis. Here's how...

The One Earth Solutions Framework offers 76 of the most effective science-based solutions to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C and avert ecological disaster using currently available technology.

The One Earth Solutions Framework indexes 76 of the most effective solution pathways based on peer-reviewed scientific literature organized across three broad pillars of collective action—energy transition, nature conservation, and regenerative agriculture. This framework is how we organize the universe of possible levers to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement goals, limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C through 2100.

One Earth Solutions Framework

One Earth Solutions Framework

After consultations with more than 100 leading scientists and experts, we identified critical knowledge gaps in understanding how the world can feasibly deliver net zero emissions by mid-century while simultaneously reversing biodiversity extinctions and uplifting the livelihoods of people. This led to three critical inquiries that shaped One Earth’s Solution Framework:

  • What is the optimal energy transition by region and sector to achieve the 1.5°C limit, delivering the greatest co-benefits?
  • What is the potential of nature conservation and restoration to help solve the climate crisis, ecoregion by ecoregion?
  • How can we feed 10 billion people on our current agricultural footprint while cutting food-related emissions by half?

Three corresponding scientific models were developed to help answer these questions, leading to the development of the 76 solution pathways. Explore each solution below, organized by our three-pillar framework. You can also learn more about the seven Intersectional Themes, which link various solutions together and the seven Levers of Change to accelerate the implementation of climate solutions.

Energy Transition

The first pillar of collective action focuses on transforming our energy systems by moving away from fossil fuels and providing 100% clean, renewable energy access to all. A just, equitable transition to 100% renewable energy can be achieved today with widely available technologies, and it will result in a system that is far less expensive than business as usual, creating millions of good long-term jobs, avoiding billions in annual fossil fuel costs, and preventing trillions in climate damages. The energy transition is already underway, but we need to triple investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy deployment and phase out fossil fuel subsidies.

The organization of the energy transition pillar stems from the work of a consortium of 17 scientists from the German Aerospace Center, the University of Technology Sydney, and the University of Melbourne, spearheaded by One Earth. The group produced the world's first high-resolution global energy transition model, Achieving the Paris Climate Agreement Goals (Teske et al. 2019), one of the most downloaded texts in Springer Nature's history. The follow-up model, Achieving the Paris Climate Agreement Goals part 2 (Teske et al. 2022), supported by Rockefeller Foundation, European Climate Foundation, and the Net-Zero Asset Owners Alliance, provides institutional investors with detailed decarbonization benchmarks by industry sub-sector. 

One Earth organizes the Energy Transition pillar into four sub-pillars—Renewable Power, Renewable Heat, Renewable Transport, Energy Efficiency—totaling 23 solution pathways.

RENEWABLE POWER

Renewable power refers to electricity generated from carbon-free or carbon-neutral sources that are naturally replenished faster than they can be consumed. Read more about the global transition to 100% renewable electricity

Solar Photovoltaic

Solar Photovoltaic

Solar photovoltaic (PV) power utilizes sheets or panels of semiconducting materials capable of capturing photons from the sun and turning them into an electrical current.

Quick Fact

Solar PV has become the lowest-cost option for new electricity generation in most regions, with an average of 0.0x cents per kWh, leading to a record increase of 179 TWh in new capacity in 2021 alone (a 22% increase from 2020).

Solar Thermaloelectric

Solar Thermaloelectric

Solar thermoelectric technology utilizes mirrors or lenses to concentrate sunlight onto a small area, generating heat that drives a turbine or heat engine to produce electricity.

Quick Fact

Solar thermoelectric can generate electricity even when the sun is not shining by storing solar heat that can be used later in the day.

Geothermal Power

Geothermal Power

Geothermal power involves harnessing naturally occurring underground heat—typically found in regions near volcanic activity, geysers, or hot springs—to generate steam for powering turbines and producing electricity.

Quick Fact

Iceland generates nearly 100% of its electricity from geothermal power due to its abundant volcanic resources along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. 

Onshore Wind

Onshore Wind

Onshore wind power is generated through the use of large wind turbines equipped with long blades that harness the kinetic energy of the wind to drive a connected electric generator. 

Quick Fact

The average generating capacity of onshore wind turbines has steadily increased from less than 1 MW c. 2000 to 3 MW capacity today. 

Offshore Wind

Offshore Wind

Offshore wind power involves the installation of wind turbines anchored to the sea floor, capitalizing on the consistently higher wind speeds over the ocean and enabling the use of larger turbines, thus enhancing their efficiency compared to onshore counterparts, ultimately generating electricity through the rotation of an electric generator.

Quick Fact

The potential of offshore wind is enormous, and it is set to grow by 13% yearly over the next two decades. As the technology becomes cheaper, it is predicted to increase fifteen-fold by 2040, making it a trillion-dollar industry.

Wave Energy

Wave Energy

Wave energy, or ocean power, involves harnessing the kinetic energy produced by the natural oscillation of waves, typically achieved through a weighted buoy system that converts the wave motion into electrical energy via a linear or rotary generator.

Quick Fact

There are five main types of wave power technology—absorber, attenuator, oscillation water column, overtopping, and inverted pendulum.

Sustainable Hydropower

Sustainable Hydropower

Sustainable hydropower refers to using smaller-scale dams that generate electricity through the controlled flow of water but preserve aquatic ecosystems and ensure unobstructed fish migration pathways.

Quick Fact

Sustainable hydropower produces significantly less GHG emissions than large-scale hydropower dams, which trap organic matter behind dams where it decomposes into methane. 

Sustainable Biomass Power

Sustainable Biomass Power

Sustainable biomass power uses cellulosic waste products such as wood scraps, agricultural residues, and organic landfill materials for combustion in a thermoelectric generator to produce electricity while ensuring that harvested trees are not used as a fuel source to maintain forest sustainability.

Quick Fact

Bioenergy is a dispatchable renewable energy source that can complement variable renewable energy sources. 

Green Hydrogen Power

Green Hydrogen Power

Green hydrogen power involves the production of hydrogen using renewable energy to electrolyze water, which allows for the storage and on-demand use of hydrogen in a fuel cell to provide a clean and sustainable power source.

Quick Fact

Almost all hydrogen used in industry is produced using fossil fuels (often called grey hydrogen). However, in the past five years, electrolyzers' capacity to create green hydrogen has doubled. (IEA)

RENEWABLE HEAT

Renewable heat refers to heating water, buildings, and industrial processes using carbon-free energy sources that are naturally replenished. Read more about the global transition to 100% renewable heat. 

Solar Heat

Solar Heat

Solar heat is the process of harnessing thermal energy from the sun, commonly achieved through a sealed flat plate with copper pipes, utilized for residential, commercial, or industrial space heating or water heating.

Quick Fact

Solar thermal heating and cooling systems are essential to energy resilience as local energy production reduces transmission needs. Solar heating systems are affordable, with a lifetime cost of about one-third of the cost of gas or electric water heaters. (IEA 2012)

Sustainable Biomass Heat

Sustainable Biomass Heat

Sustainable biomass heat refers to the controlled combustion of cellulosic waste products, including wood scraps, agricultural residues, and other organic materials, to generate renewable heat without depleting forests or croplands.

Quick Fact

Biomass energy can increase a country's energy security, decreasing their need to import fossil fuels. For instance, in the coming decades, most biomass demand will come from India, Brazil, and Indonesia, which have abundant domestic feedstocks. (IEA)

Geothermal Heat

Geothermal Heat

Geothermal heat involves the extraction and distribution of subsurface latent heat for residential or industrial heating.

Quick Fact

Geothermal resources are classified by their temperature level, ranging from low temperature (<90˚C) to high (150-250˚C), which differentiates their suitability for various heat processes, from food processing to industrial process heat.

Green Hydrogen Heat

Green Hydrogen Heat

Green hydrogen heat involves using sustainably produced hydrogen to generate heat through combustion for high-heat industrial needs or co-generation fuel cells for lower-heat commercial and residential markets.

District Heat

District Heat

District heat is a utility-scale system for distributing heat from renewable sources (such as bioenergy, solar thermal, heat pumps, or geothermal) through a system of insulated pipes for residential and industrial needs. 

Quick Fact

Europe leads the world in renewable district heat production with around 25% of heat coming from renewable sources.

Electric Heat

Electric Heat

Electric heat encompasses several technologies, such as heat pumps, space heaters, and induction ovens, that can convert renewable electricity into heat through electric resistance, radiation, induction, or efficient heat transfer. 

Quick Fact

Heat pumps are 3-5x more efficient than natural gas boilers but only meet about 10% of global building heat needs. However, the public is picking up on their cost and health benefits as heat pump sales grew 11% globally in 2022, with Europe's market growing by over 40% year over year. (IEA)

RENEWABLE TRANSPORT

Renewable transport refers to vehicles that are powered by either renewable electricity or portable carbon-neutral fuels like green hydrogen, synfuel, and biofuel. Read more about the global transition to 100% renewable transportation

Green Hydrogen Fuel

Green Hydrogen Fuel

Green hydrogen fuel is produced using renewable energy to electrolyze water (splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen). The resulting hydrogen can be stored and used on demand in a fuel cell to create renewable power.

Quick Fact

With Biden's Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs, California will develop green hydrogen infrastructure to spearhead decarbonizing public transportation, heavy-duty trucking, and port operations—key emissions drivers in the state and sources of air pollution that are among the hardest to decarbonize. (White House)

Sustainable Synfuel

Sustainable Synfuel

Sustainable synfuels are combustible fuels similar to petroleum but synthesized using renewable power and abundant resources such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide, applicable for use in existing aircraft and maritime vessels without substantial engine modifications.

Quick Fact

Although few synfuels are currently in production due to their high price point, they present an attractive solution for long-distance aviation that is unlikely to be electrified. 

Sustainable Biofuel

Sustainable Biofuel

Sustainable biofuels are combustible liquid fuels produced from non-food feedstocks like algae and waste biomass, in contrast to those sourced from crops like soy and corn, which compete for critical agricultural land required for food production.

Quick Fact

In 2021, nearly 70% of renewable diesel and bio-based jet fuel came from wastes and residues.

Electric Transport

Electric Transport

Electric transport refers to any mode of transportation, including trains, trams, cars, buses, and bikes, powered by renewable electricity either directly from the grid or through stored battery energy. About 80% of all energy used to power a gasoline vehicle is lost to various inefficiencies. In comparison, an electric vehicle only loses about 11% of the original energy used to power it. 

Quick Fact

The public is increasingly recognizing the superiority of electric vehicles (EVs), evident in their exponential growth in sales. In 2020, only one out of every 25 cars sold was an EV, which has since risen to one out of every seven cars sold in 2023. (IEA)

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Energy efficiency refers to the reduction of total energy demand through intelligent behavioral and technological measures without lowering living standards. Read more about energy efficiency's role in the transition to 100% renewable energy.  

Built Environment

Built Environment

Built environment encompasses any constructed structure or system, including whole cities, residential homes, commercial buildings, government facilities, roads, bridges, and factories, designed with a focus on minimizing energy needs, material usage, and associated emissions.

Quick Fact

We can reduce emissions from the buildings sector by 66% simply through demand-side mitigation efforts, such as creating more compact cities, better design, urban planning, insulation, and lifestyle changes. 

Transportation Efficiency

Transportation Efficiency

Transportation efficiency encompasses measures aimed at reducing reliance on energy-inefficient modes of travel, such as automobiles and airplanes, which includes investments in public rail systems, buses, bicycles, and personal electric vehicles (PEVs), along with policies promoting remote work options, lightweight vehicle manufacturing, and other energy-saving measures that contribute to sustainable transportation practices.

Quick Fact

Behavior and technological choices drive a large part of our energy needs, evidenced by how car-dependent North America uses 34% of the energy used globally in the transport sector yet only accounts for around 7% of the global population.

Transmission & Storage

Transmission & Storage

Transmission and storage measures refer to techniques that minimize energy loss during power transmission from production to consumption points, encompassing the deployment of smart grids, smart meters, demand response systems, integrated grid storage solutions, utility-scale batteries, and load-shedding techniques.

Quick Fact

While pumped-storage hydropower has the largest capacity worldwide for energy storage, grid-scale batteries are growing rapidly. New installations rose by over 75% in 2022, growing to a total of 28 GW installed worldwide at the end of the year. 

Industries & Services

Industries & Services

Industries and services encompass technological innovations, new systems, and upgrades that reduce the energy intensity and direct emissions from manufacturing chemicals, metals, electrical goods, textiles, materials, and cement.  

Quick Fact

Many of these processes rely on fossil fuel-based feedstocks and are highly energy intensive, contributing to over 20% of global GHG emissions. Most of those emissions are caused by energy use in industry and can be solved through renewable energy and energy efficiency. However, high-heat processes, cement, refrigerants, and certain chemicals create non-energy-related GHGs that need to be solved through innovation.

Nature Conservation

The second pillar of collective action emphasizes the need to protect our natural environments. In order to reverse the biodiversity loss crisis and stabilize our global climate system, we must protect, restore, and connect 50% of Earth's lands and oceans within a Global Safety Net. Remaining land habitats store nearly two trillion tonnes of carbon and absorb one-quarter of annual CO2 emissions. Expanding Indigenous land rights is essential, alongside a moratorium on deforestation and a global effort to restore 350 million hectares of forests on degraded land, providing the necessary carbon removal to achieve the 1.5°C goal.

One Earth developed peer-reviewed research providing a global inventory of all remaining natural lands called A “Global Safety Net” to reverse biodiversity loss and stabilize Earth’s climate (Dinerstein et al. 2020). Published in Science Advances, the Global Safety Net provides country and state-level benchmarks for spatial target setting under the UN’s Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. 

This, along with additional research on the first spatial model on the technical potential of forest-based carbon removal, informs 24 solution pathways under the Nature Conservation pillar, organized into four sub-pillars—Land Conservation, Ocean Conservation, Ecosystem Restoration, Wildlife Connectivity:

LAND CONSERVATION

Land conservation refers to the long-term protection and Indigenous governance of ecosystems occurring within terrestrial boundaries across all biome types - tundra, boreal forests, temperate forests, tropical forests, scrublands & savannas, grasslands, deserts, wetlands, and freshwater bodies (lakes and rivers). Read more about the Global Safety Net.

Protected Lands

Protected Lands

Protected lands are places already protected or recognized by governments, including all International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)-protected area classes and Other Effective Conservation Measures (OECMs) as defined by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC).

Explore the Global Safety Net
Rarity Sites

Rarity Sites

Rarity sites, or Conservation Imperatives, are unprotected areas that need to be protected immediately due to the presence of rare, threatened, or range-restricted plant and animal species.

Explore Conservation Imperatives
Land Habitats

Land Habitats

Land habitats are unprotected land areas with groupings of plants and animals vital to maintaining healthy ecosystems.

Mammal Assemblages

Mammal Assemblages

Mammal assemblages refers to currently unprotected large mammal landscapes where seasonal groupings of animals occur, particularly megafauna.

Restoring large mammals
Intact Wilderness

Intact Wilderness

Intact wilderness refers to unprotected areas with a large extent of intact wilderness, such as continuous forests, shrublands, and grasslands, that aren't identified in previous layers of the Global Safety Net. 

Climate Refugia

Climate Refugia

Climate refugia refers to unprotected areas not included in other designations of the Global Safety Net that help to stabilize our global climate system by absorbing and storing more than 50 metric tons of carbon per hectare of land.

Indigenous Tenure

Indigenous Tenure

Indigenous tenure refers to land currently occupied or managed by Indigenous People or Local Communities (IPLCs) that are legally recognized by governments as belonging to those communities.

Protecting bio-cultural diversity
Urban Biodiversity

Urban Biodiversity

Urban biodiversity refers to methods that reintroduce nature and wildlife back into urban or suburban areas, including tree planting, microforests, pollinator meadows, and river restoration.

OCEAN CONSERVATION

Ocean conservation is the long-term protection and sustainable management of marine areas and species—from coastal ecosystems and coral reefs to deep ocean habitats.

Protected Seas

Protected Seas

Protected seas, or Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), are sections of the ocean that are currently protected or recognized by governments, with limits placed on human activity in an effort to conserve marine biodiversity and habitats. This includes all IUCN-protected area classes as well as Other Effective Conservation Measures (OECMs). 

Quick Fact

Over 5,000 Marine Protected Areas have been established worldwide, covering 0.8% of the ocean.

Marine Habitats

Marine Habitats

Marine habitats are currently unprotected areas with groupings of plants and animals that are vital to maintaining healthy ocean ecosystems.

Sustainable Fisheries

Sustainable Fisheries

Sustainable fisheries are fishing operations managed in a manner that ensures the long-term health and productivity of fish stocks and the marine ecosystems in which they live. This involves harvesting at a rate where the fish population can replenish itself naturally, thereby avoiding overfishing. Sustainable fisheries also consider the impacts of fishing practices on other marine life and habitats, ensuring that the broader ecosystem remains balanced and healthy. The goal is to meet current seafood demands without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Quick Fact

Annually, fishers remove more than 77 billion kilograms (170 billion pounds) of wildlife from the sea, raising concerns about overfishing and the potential collapse of the world’s fisheries.

Marine Carbon Sinks

Marine Carbon Sinks

Marine carbon sinks are natural reservoirs in the ocean that absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through various physical and biological processes.

ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION

Ecosystem restoration involves assisting the recovery of degraded ecosystems and their natural processes through measures including reforestation, habitat regeneration, and the rewilding of keystone species.

Reforestation

Reforestation

Reforestation involves planting native trees in areas affected by man-made disturbances (e.g., logging, mining, agricultural clearing, and development) or by natural disturbances (e.g., wildfires, drought, and insect and disease infestations).

Quick Fact

A 2019 analysis suggests that planting trees in areas that would naturally support woodlands and forests on an additional 0.9 billion hectares could capture 205 gigatonnes of carbon. (Bastin et al., 2019)

Forest Recovery

Forest Recovery

Forest recovery refers to restoring previously logged or degraded forests through natural regeneration. This restoration can be unassisted or assisted, with the latter involving periodic clearing of invasive species, if present.

Quick Fact

According to the One Earth Climate Model, if 25% of secondary forests (1,893 Mha) were set aside for conservation and allowed to naturally restore, they could collectively sequester 52 Gt of CO2 by the end of the century. (Dooley)

Sustainable Forestry

Sustainable Forestry

Sustainable forestry is a forest management technique that includes selective logging instead of clear-cutting. It is more expensive but results in high-quality timber products over the longer term, reducing carbon emissions from logging and benefiting wildlife. 

Quick Fact

Reduced-impact logging for climate (RIL-C) is a way to maintain timber production while minimizing forest damage and can reduce logging emissions by 44%. (Ellis et al., 2019)

Grassland Restoration

Grassland Restoration

Grassland restoration includes a suite of practices that restore or enhance the health of grassland ecosystems, including managing and planting native species.

Quick Fact

Grasslands are among the largest terrestrial biomes, covering >25% of the Earth's surface.

Wetlands Restoration

Wetlands Restoration

Wetlands restoration refers to a combination of management practices and planting native species to restore and enhance the health of all types of wetlands, including marshes, swamps, bogs, fens, seagrass, and kelp forests.

Quick Fact

Although they cover only 6% of the Earth’s land surface, 40% of all plant and animal species live or breed in wetlands.

Mangrove Restoration

Mangrove Restoration

Mangrove restoration consists of reviving or rehabilitating coastal mangrove ecosystems, which help sequester carbon, safeguard coastlines against storms and erosion, and foster biodiversity.

Coral Restoration

Coral Restoration

Coral restoration includes hybridizing or reestablishing corals in areas that have experienced bleaching or other disturbances.

Quick Fact

Coral reefs occur in less than one percent of the ocean, yet are home to nearly one-quarter of all ocean species.

Species Rewilding

Species Rewilding

Species rewilding is the process of reintroducing species of wild terrestrial and marine animals that were previously driven out or exterminated from their native habitats.

Quick Fact

Rewilding just 20 large mammal species back to their historic habitats could restore ecosystems across almost one-quarter of the Earth’s land. (Vynne et al., 2022)

Trophic rewilding and climate

WILDLIFE CONNECTIVITY

Wildlife connectivity refers to creating and maintaining ecological corridors and connections between natural habitats, enabling species to move and migrate unimpeded across both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Read more about how corridors are key to protecting biodiversity.

Land Corridors

Land Corridors

Land corridors are landscapes that connect two or more wildlife areas, allowing animals to move freely between larger areas of intact habitat.

Quick Fact

Land corridors can increase movement between isolated populations, help to increase genetic diversity, and increase food availability for a variety of species.

Buffers & Greenways

Buffers & Greenways

Buffers and greenways are areas of land used to separate cultivated or developed land from protected areas, Indigenous conservation areas, and wildlife habitats. Buffer areas can help meet a number of natural resource, economic, and social objectives, including providing wildlife habitat, protecting cropland and downstream communities from flood damage, and filtering nutrients, pesticides, and animal waste from agricultural land runoff.

Rivers & Streams

Rivers & Streams

Areas of land running alongside a river or a portion of a river bed that enable river-dependent species to feed, mate, and migrate. Conserving these can stabilize river banks and reduce the velocity of water to support wildlife.

Quick Fact

Rivers hold less than one percent of the world's water, with the rest existing in the salty ocean and polar ice caps—making rivers incredibly important for freshwater conservation.

Marine Corridors

Marine Corridors

Marine corridors serve as migration routes for sea birds, fish, and marine mammals free of interference from human activity.

Quick Fact

The Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR) was established in 2004 to provide for the long-term conservation of nature, restore ecosystem resilience and mitigate the damage to marine biodiversity caused by human activities.

Regenerative Agriculture

The third pillar of collective action focuses on radically transforming how we grow our food. By adopting agricultural and farming practices that restore the health of our soils, we can enhance their ability to draw down and sequester carbon. We can achieve net zero food and fiber systems globally through regenerative agricultural practices, which increase both soil fertility and carbon storage. 

Concurrently, we must cut meat consumption and food loss in half, reduce the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, diversify crops, and invest in smallholder farms. By doing so, we can feed ten billion people by mid-century while greatly reducing agricultural emissions—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—and improving human nutrition.

One Earth supported cutting-edge research in regenerative agriculture, including a groundbreaking agricultural AI model to optimize global crop production and nutrition availability, factoring in future climate changes. Our analysis of emerging research in agriculture and sustainable land use has informed four sub-pillars under the Regenerative Agriculture pillar—Regenerative Croplands, Sustainable Rangelands, Food Waste Reduction, Circular Fibersheds—with a total of 29 unique solutions pathways:

REGENERATIVE CROPLANDS

Regenerative croplands consist of a wide variety of farm management techniques that increase the net carbon stored in farmland, increase crop resilience, decrease food miles, decrease inputs while increasing yields, and eliminate the emissions associated with fertilizer. Read more about how regenerative agriculture can play a key role in combating climate change.

Farm Afforestation

Farm Afforestation

Farm afforestation involves the strategic integration of diverse tree-based systems, such as windbreaks, pocket forests, orchards, or alley cropping, within croplands, contributing to enhanced carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and improved land management practices that promote sustainable agriculture.

Cropland Restoration

Cropland Restoration

Cropland restoration is converting degraded or abandoned agricultural land into sustainable use by applying regenerative agriculture practices that help regenerate ecosystems, promote biodiversity, and enhance soil quality for long-term food production. 

Quick Fact

Globally, cropland stores almost 10% of the total global soil organic carbon in the top 30 cm of soil.

Soil Management

Soil Management

Soil management encompasses a range of holistic farming practices, including cover crops, erosion control, microbial inoculants, and non-fertilizer soil improvers, designed to foster soil health, resilience, and carbon content, ensuring sustainable and productive agricultural systems while minimizing negative environmental impacts.

Quick Fact

Given its multiple benefits, including improved food production, soil carbon sequestration, and the conservation of existing soil carbon stocks, is a crucial mitigation pathway to achieve the less than 2°C global target of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Sustainable Biochar

Sustainable Biochar

Sustainable biochar refers to turning sustainably sourced biomass into charcoal, which can enrich and fortify agricultural soil, enhancing its fertility, water retention, and structure while sequestering carbon.

Quick Fact

Sustainable biochar can sequester carbon to help mitigate climate change while providing energy and increasing crop yields.

Biochar for soil health
Sustainable Fertilizers

Sustainable Fertilizers

Sustainable fertilizers are organic-based fertilizers, including compost, herbivore manures, vermiculture, microbial soil amendments, and domestic sewage, fostering nutrient-rich soil, promoting healthy crop growth, and minimizing detrimental environmental impacts.

Quick Fact

Organic fertilizers can improve soil structure over time by increasing aeration and water-holding capacity of the soil. 

Sustainable Rice Farming

Sustainable Rice Farming

Sustainable rice farming employs a variety of eco-friendly practices that minimize resource usage, enhance productivity through improved seed selection and reduced crop loss, and mitigate methane emissions by implementing water management techniques that limit the duration of flooding in rice paddies.

Quick Fact

Sustainable rice farming can decrease water use by 2%, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50%, and increase income by 10%.

Agritecture

Agritecture

Agritecture denotes the innovative integration of agricultural practices into built infrastructure, encompassing various methods such as vertical farming, advanced greenhouses, and green roofs, creating sustainable and efficient urban farming solutions that optimize land use and promote local food production in urban settings.

Quick Fact

Green roofs can significantly reduce the urban heat island effect by absorbing and dissipating heat, helping to lower temperatures in urban areas and improve overall air quality. Additionally, green roofs can provide insulation, reducing energy consumption for heating and cooling in buildings.

Crop Optimization

Crop Optimization

Using AI and data modeling to determine the optimal location for various crops, increasing overall yields and crop resilience while reducing water consumption. 

Quick Fact

Crop production will need to increase by about 60% to satisfy the demand for food for the fast-growing population globally—demonstrating the need for crop optimization.

Dryland Irrigation

Dryland Irrigation

Dryland irrigation refers to identifying presently rainfed cropland that could be irrigated to increase yields and reduce food insecurity without increasing land needed for agriculture or depleting sustainable water resources. 

Quick Fact

Dryland irrigation helps employ sustainable and regenerative agriculture practices, like keeping the soil rooted year-round.

Agroforestry

Agroforestry

Agroforestry is the practice of cultivating trees, crops, and sometimes livestock in a complementary manner, allowing for multi-story production of diverse products that promote biodiversity, improve soil health, and enhance ecosystem resilience.

Quick Fact

According to the One Earth Climate Model, integrating trees into 20% of temperate and tropical pastureland could sequester 25 gigatons of C02 by 2050 and 33 gigatons of CO2 by the end of the century. (Dooley)

Polyculture

Polyculture

Polyculture is the practice of cultivating multiple crops, often with symbiotic properties, in the same area, which helps sequester carbon, enhance biodiversity, and improve yield resilience.

Quick Fact

Like natural systems, polycultures offer benefits, including reduced pest damage and soil conservation, even increasing crop yields per area compared to monocultures.

Perennial/Superfoods

Perennial/Superfoods

Perennial superfoods, including acai, goji, and moringa, are exceptionally high in nutrients and beneficial for human health but do not require replanting each year, reducing soil erosion and increasing carbon sequestration relative to annual crops.

Quick Fact

Studies have demonstrated that superfoods high in antioxidants and flavonoids help prevent coronary heart disease and cancer, improve immunity, and decrease inflammation.

Seed Diversity

Seed Diversity

Seed diversity refers to practices that increase the genetic diversity of plants available to farmers by restoring heirloom crops or creating new strains through hybridization, which bolster food security and enhance crop resilience to pest and climate impacts. 

Quick Fact

Without seed diversity, it's difficult for plants to adapt to pests, diseases, and changing climate conditions—a particular concern as the world warms.

Smallholder Farming

Smallholder Farming

Smallholder farming refers to family or community farms on less than five acres, which aid food security and climate change by allowing for micro-management of a diversity of crops adapted to a specific region with much lower carbon footprints than industrial agriculture.

Quick Fact

While 75 percent of the world's food is generated from only 12 plants and five animal species, making the global food system highly vulnerable to shocks, biodiversity is critical to smallholder systems that keep many rustic and climate-resilient varieties and breeds alive.

Smallholder farmers: 10 case studies

SUSTAINABLE RANGELANDS

Sustainable rangelands pertain to shifting diets to decrease the strain on our rangelands, managing pastureland to decrease methane emissions, and maximizing carbon stored in the soil by eliminating deforestation and increasing ecosystem health.

Silvopasture

Silvopasture

Silvopasture refers to intentionally integrating trees and grazing livestock to optimize the production of forest products and forage, enhancing biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and diversifying farmer's outputs. 

Quick Fact

One of the main advantages of silvopasture systems is reducing heat stress in livestock, which improves animal performance and well-being. 

Pastoralism

Pastoralism

Pastoralism is a subsistence agricultural practice that involves raising domestic animals in natural grassland environments, often in dryland areas.

Quick Fact

What distinguishes pastoral systems is traditional knowledge, centuries-long tested experiences based on inference and ground truthing, with a propensity to adapt to new circumstances.

Grazing Optimization

Grazing Optimization

Grazing optimization is the strategic control of livestock grazing (such as cattle, bison, goats, and sheep) on pasturelands that promotes pasture regrowth, supports biodiversity, and enhances soil health by mimicking the natural grazing behaviors of wild herbivores.

Healthy Feed

Healthy Feed

Healthy feed refers to a nutritionally balanced diet provided to livestock that contains essential macronutrients, vitamins, minerals, and adequate fiber, fostering animal well-being, reducing reliance on antibiotics, and mitigating methane emissions.

Quick Fact

Improving cattle feed can reduce carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 4.42–15.05 gigatons by 2050. 

Planetarian Diet

Planetarian Diet

The planetarian diet emphasizes a nutritional approach outlined by the EAT-Lancet Commission, promoting sustainable and healthy dietary habits, including reduced red meat consumption, increased vegetable intake, and decreased food waste, aiming to support global food security and environmental sustainability for a growing population.

Quick Fact

Reducing your overall meat consumption is essential because the production contributes to the ever-increasing social and economic costs of poor public health, climate disaster relief, and environmental degradation. 

Explore the Planetarian Diet
Meat-free Proteins

Meat-free Proteins

Meat-free proteins represent an emerging sector in the food industry focused on plant-based protein alternatives sourced from pulses, seaweed, moringa, and other high-protein sources that can be produced and processed sustainably. 

Quick Fact

When demand shifts from animal-based proteins to alternative proteins, farmers are less pressured to convert native vegetation into farmland, and some existing farmland could even be restored to native vegetation.

FOOD WASTE REDUCTION

Food is a resource that represents large amounts of energy, resources, and time. Reducing the amount of food wasted through on- and off-farm measures increases our resource efficiency and allow the nutrients in food to cycle back into our food system.

On-farm Storage

On-farm Storage

On-farm storage solutions, including technologies like solar-powered refrigerators, contribute to significant reductions in crop losses due to inadequate or inaccessible cold storage, ensuring the freshness and quality of produce before it is sold or taken to market.

Quick Fact

On-farm grain storage can give a farmer financial benefits, greater control over where crops are sold, a hearty supply of animal feed, and protection against weather damage.

Bioregional Sourcing

Bioregional Sourcing

Bioregional sourcing emphasizes the procurement of food from local farms and regional ecosystems, promoting sustainable and resilient food systems that support local economies and reduce the environmental impact of long-distance shipping.

Quick Fact

Sourcing locally contributes to green manufacturing and ultimately helps build consumer confidence. When consumers buy with confidence, the business benefits from increasing positive brand awareness and customer loyalty.

Food Upcycling

Food Upcycling

Food upcycling involves the creative repurposing of food byproducts, surplus food, and cosmetically imperfect food into new edible products in an effort to reduce food waste.

Quick Fact

Globally, we lose around $1 trillion per year on wasted or lost food. Upcycled food captures that value and leverages it to create a sustainable and resilient food system.

Urban Gardening

Urban Gardening

Urban gardening encompasses the conversion of turf grass into gardens and cultivating herbs and vegetables in urban spaces such as rooftops, balconies, or community gardens to promote local food production, boost public health, and lower carbon emissions. 

Quick Fact

Growing your own herbs, fruits, and vegetables is a good way to make your garden more climate-friendly. Home-grown food increases soil carbon and decreases carbon emissions from food packaging, refrigeration, and transportation.

Composting

Composting

Composting involves the natural decomposition of organic matter, such as plant debris and food scraps, into a valuable fertilizer and soil amendment, contributing to soil health, improved water retention, and carbon sequestration. 

Quick Fact

When compost is applied, the soil's health increases as microbes grow and become more plentiful. These microbes sequester carbon in the soil from photosynthesis.

Composting as a climate solution
Meal Planning

Meal Planning

Meal planning involves the strategic preparation and organization of meals to save money, improve health, and reduce food waste.

Quick Fact

Wasted food accounts for 2.6% of the annual greenhouse gas emissions in the US, which is equivalent to 1 in 7 cars on the road. Reducing food waste is a top strategy for addressing climate change.

CIRCULAR FIBERSHEDS

Circular fibersheds refer to replacing fossil-fuel-based fabrics (nylon, polyester, spandex, etc.) with fabrics and textiles grown using regenerative farming practices and implementing systems to reuse and recycle clothing after its useful life.

Sustainable Fiber & Pulp

Sustainable Fiber & Pulp

Sustainable fiber and pulp is the responsible procurement of natural fibers, like linen, wool, hemp, and jute, from environmentally sustainable and ethically managed sources that support soil health, waterways, and biodiversity and enhance carbon sequestration.

Quick Fact

The global market for "eco-fibers" is projected to grow from $40.38 billion in 2020 to $58.29 billion by 2027, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.6% over the forecast period. [Fibers Roadmap]

Cloth, Climate, Carbon & Capital
Green Textiles

Green Textiles

Green textiles refer to textiles produced through eco-friendly fiber processing and dyeing methods, emphasizing reduced energy consumption and the avoidance of chemicals harmful to human and ecological health.

Quick Fact

The textile industry generates one-fifth of the world's industrial water pollution, and textile dyeing is the second largest water polluter in the world. 

Recycle & Reuse

Recycle & Reuse

Recycle and Reuse refers to the adoption of sustainable fashion practices, including the concept of "slow fashion," which encourages the use, repair, and repurposing of second-hand apparel, along with the recycling and upcycling of fibers for additional purposes, all aimed at mitigating the environmental impact of the prevailing culture of "fast fashion."

Quick Fact

Every ton of reused discarded textiles prevents 20 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.

Intersectional Themes

Beyond the specific solution pathways within the three pillars of collective action, the One Earth Solutions Framework identifies seven major cross-cutting themes that must be addressed to effectively implement climate solutions at scale. These themes offer a holistic approach to ensure that our solutions are both inclusive and equitable, keeping people at the heart of the global transition.

Gender Equity

Gender Equity

Gender equity is the inclusion and empowerment of women and girls in any climate solution pathway.

Women and climate solutions
Social Justice

Social Justice

The fair and equal distribution of resources and opportunities within a society, and it is a crucial component of finding solutions to the climate crisis.

Youth Leadership

Youth Leadership

Empowering the next generation of leaders with the knowledge and skills to solve the climate crisis.

Sustainable Livelihoods

Sustainable Livelihoods

A UN term used to focus on uplifting typically poor and often rural populations, providing new opportunities for gainful employment that helps the environment rather than harms it.

Public Health

Public Health

Climate change poses significant threats to public health around the world. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, poor air quality, and other impacts of climate change directly harm human health.

Climate change & public health
Water Stewardship

Water Stewardship

The capacity of upstream sources, underground aquifers, desalination, and other technologies to ensure sufficient freshwater for agriculture and human uses.

Quick Fact

Worldwide, two billion people lack access to clean and safe drinking water, highlighting the urgent need for protecting and managing water resources sustainably and equally.

Biological Diversity

Biological Diversity

Biodiversity, or biological diversity, is the variability of living things that makes up life on Earth—from plants and animals to fungi and bacteria— and the ecosystems that house them.

Levers of Change

Funding opportunities for these climate solutions can deliver impact in a variety of ways. One Earth simplifies the universe of opportunities to seven main levers of change that help shape project development from the outset, as well as key performance indicators to measure the success of projects we support.

Philanthro-activism

Philanthro-activism

Guided by the science of a 1.5°C pathway, philanthro-activism directs the resources of philanthropy to the activism of communities doing the work on the front lines of climate change.

Nature/Climate Finance

Nature/Climate Finance

The mobilization of both governmental and private sector financial resources to fund and rapidly scale nature and climate solutions. Examples include government grants, private investments, and public-private partnerships. 

Policy & Governance

Policy & Governance

Implementing effective policies, laws, and regulations that promote sustainable practices, reduce carbon emissions, and protect nature, as well as the effective governance necessary to ensure compliance at local, national, and international levels. Examples range from regional urban planning to national carbon pricing to international agreements like the Paris Climate Accord, Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), and High Seas Treaty. 

Science & Technology

Science & Technology

The scientific research and technological innovation developed to provide decision-makers at all levels with the tools and knowledge they need to prioritize implementing the best climate solutions. Examples include the development of science-based roadmaps like the One Earth Climate Model and the Global Safety Net and digital tools like Trailguard.  

Legal Empowerment

Legal Empowerment

Increasing access to justice and the rule of law for marginalized individuals and communities. It can enable local communities to secure rights to their land, bring lawsuits against governments or private companies for harmful environmental practices, participate in decision-making processes, and access mechanisms for climate justice.

Community Action

Community Action

Collective efforts taken by groups of individuals at a local level to implement systemic change. Grassroots initiatives can include community efforts to protect and restore nature, reduce carbon emissions, implement local adaptation measures, and foster environmental stewardship.

Education & Awareness

Education & Awareness

Educating individuals and communities about readily available climate solutions and expanding the general understanding of what constitutes a climate solution. This strategy is crucial for fostering informed decision-making and behavior change at multiple levels in order to affect systemic change.

Between now and 2030, we estimate that $10 trillion of new funding will move into climate change mitigation from the public and private sectors. At One Earth, we believe philanthropists can play a critical role in helping inform the strategic use of these vitally important flows of new capital. Our Climate Finance Tracker initiative keeps a pulse on climate finance from all sectors—public, private, and philanthropic—and we’re continually supporting new cutting-edge initiatives to help steer decision making in government ministries, financial board rooms, and family offices.