Photo detail / credit: Wildebeest Migration, SanctuaryAsia – Daniel Rosengren, under Creative Commons license
ANIMATING THE CARBON CYCLE:
A CREDIBLE CLIMATE SOLUTION
Biodiversity, especially animal species, plays a critical yet often overlooked role in carbon dioxide capture and storage.
To meet global climate targets, we must not only reduce emissions to net zero but also remove the vast legacy carbon that has accumulated in the atmosphere since the industrial era.
By rewilding key wildlife species, we can enhance ecosystems’ capacity to absorb billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
This is called Animating the Carbon Cycle (ACC). It’s an emerging field of science and policy, producing rigorous, peer-reviewed evidence to show how nature recovery is a credible, rapid and cost-efficient option.
Wild animals provide natural climate solutions by:
- Protecting stored carbon, preventing it from escaping into the atmosphere
- Enabling nature to absorb and store more carbon in soils and sediments
Rewilding wildlife to near historic levels offers a proven, comprehensive solution to the climate, biodiversity, and climate anxiety crises.
12x
Kelp forests guarded by sea otters can absorb 12 times more CO2 than those without sea otters
Photo detail / credit: Sea Otter
- Chris Spain On Pexels
12K tonnes
Each individual forest elephant could facilitate the capture of 12K tonnes of CO2 each year
Photo detail / credit: Forest Elephant, Samara Karoo Reserve
- Ida Hansen
3.9x
Photo detail / credit: Ocean fish - Jean Wimmerlin on Unsplash
To Meet Global Climate Goals: A Two-Fold Solution
1
RADICALLY CUT EMISSIONS:
With the right policies, infrastructure, and behaviour changes, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40-70% by 2050 (IPCC).
2
REMOVE LEGACY CARBON:
ACC’s key contribution to remove legacy carbon dioxide through rewilding, rather than to offset current and ongoing fossil fuel emissions.
HEALTHY ECOSYSTEMS, WITH ALL THEIR ANIMALS, DRAW DOWN VAST AMOUNTS OF CARBON
Yale School of the Environment & Global Rewilding Alliance present:
The YALE/GRA ACC Model
This model quantifies the positive climate impact of restoring and protecting wildlife populations. By calculating the legacy carbon being stored and captured, the Yale/GRA ACC Model guides conservation efforts and investments worldwide, turning ecosystems into powerful solutions for the climate and biodiversity crises.
NEW REWILDING SCIENCE TAKES THE WORLD BY STORM
TROPHIC REWILDING CAN EXPAND NATURAL CLIMATE SOLUTIONS
A peer-reviewed study published in Nature Climate Change – Volume 13 April 2023
“Our work reveals that wild animals could substantially increase an ecosystem’s carbon budget by 60–95%, and sometimes even more, relative to cases where those animals are absent. This could potentially protect and enhance ecosystem carbon capture and storage globally by at least 6.4 billion tonnes per year.
This amount rivals each of the IPCC’s top five steps for reducing net emissions expeditiously, including a rapid transition to solar and wind technology.”
Professor Oswald Schmitz of Yale School of Environment & Speaker at COP28
This important work involved Yale University, the Global Rewilding Alliance, Utah State University, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen University & Research, World Maritime University, University of Montana, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Nelson Mandela University, Harvard University, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Rewilding Europe, University of New Mexico, University of Lapland, Aarhus University, Re:Wild, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, and University of Eastern Finland.
News of our research published in Nature Climate Change has been shared by 70 mainstream outlets in 50 countries and translated into 12 languages
EXPLORE AND SUPPORT THIS PIONEERING RESEARCH
SCIENCE
Animating the Carbon Cycle is data-driven. Wildlife restoration enhances carbon sequestration and ecosystem health through rigorously researched, peer-reviewed studies.
Photo detail / credit: Primate – Wildtracks
POLICY
Animating the Carbon Cycle offers a policy framework that simultaneously addresses the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and climate anxiety while achieving many sustainable development goals.
Photo detail / credit: White Rhino, Samara Karoo, South Africa
– Rich Hallam
PRACTITIONERS
Practitioners involved in rewilding are ideally placed to help advance the ACC study at both a practical and theoretical level. Apply the model to your own projects.
Photo detail / credit: Buffalo Relocation
– Simalaha Community Conservancy
Learn about Animating the Carbon Cycle and its impact worldwide and help us spread the word and get people engaged.
Photo detail / credit: Climate campaign
– Li-An Lim on Unsplash
JOURNALISTS
By covering ACC, media professionals play a vital role in raising awareness about the power of this nature-based solution. Our research has been published in 70 mainstream outlets!
Photo detail / credit: Javiera Ide Liquine Confluencia Baker – Rewilding Chile
THESE NINE CLIMATE HEROES HELP US TURN THE TIDE
The protection and restoration of the populations of only nine species could collectively facilitate the capture of billions of tons of CO2 every year, more than 95% of the amount needed every year to meet the global target of removing 500 Gigatons (1 Gigaton = 1,000,000,000 tonnes) of legacy carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2100. As our research expands to other species and ecosystems we’re uncovering the immense impact wildlife and other animals have on maintaining balanced ecosystems.
Discover our ‘climate heroes’, and how they play a crucial role in absorbing carbon dioxide.
Wildebeest
Grey wolves
Sea otters
American bison
Musk oxen
Sharks
Marine fish
African forest elephants
Baleen whales
Professor Oswald Schmitz, Yale University
A GROUNDBREAKING STUDY:
The Reintroduction of Bison in Romania – The First Rollout of the ACC Model Application
170 European Bison, through their grazing, trampling and seed dispersal in an area of 48 km2 of grasslands in a wider landscape of 300 km2 helped to capture approximately an additional 54,000 tonnes of carbon per year, nearly 10 times more than without the bison.
Of grassland
Bison
Tonnes of carbon per year
Carbon capture
“These results from the Yale/GRA ACC (Animating the Carbon Cycle) model show the potential of addressing simultaneously the existential challenges of climate change and biodiversity extinctions. Allowing a comeback of nature will significantly increase the drawdown of carbon from the atmosphere while bringing back functional ecosystems and the range of ecosystem services they provide. Why look for expensive, unproven technological approaches when a natural and cost-effective solution is at hand?”
Karl Wagner, Managing Director of the Global Rewilding Alliance
Image credit: European Bison in Poland – Juraj Valkovic on Pexels
The European Bison study covered in the Guardian
May 16th 2024
This widely shared story reached over 700 million people in just the first few days.
SCIENTISTS & ORGANISATIONS BEHIND
This initiative is led by a partnership between the Global Rewilding Alliance and Yale School of the Environment.
This work would not have been possible without our Rewilding Champions. A great thank you to:
Biophilia Foundation, Rewilding Europe, Rewilding Chile, IFAW, André Hoffmann, Ben Goldsmith, Re:wild. We also want to thank One Earth and the WILD Foundation for helping us get started on his important initiative.
Together, this coalition advocates a very clear solution: preserving intact nature and immediately restoring and rewilding functional ecosystems at landscape and seascape scale. You can find out more about us here.