Natural Climate Solutions for Canada

Authors
Ronnie Drever
Susan Cook-Patton
Fardausi Akhter
Pascal Badiou
Gail Chmura
Scott Davidson
Raymond Desjardins
Andrew Dyk
Joseph Fargione
Max Fellows
Ben Filewood
Margot Hessing-Lewis
Susantha Jayasundara
William Keeton
Timm Kroeger
Tyler Lark
Edward Le
Sara Leavitt
Marie-Eve LeClerc
Tony Lemprière
Juha Metsaranta
Brian McConkey
Eric Nielson
Guillaume Peterson St-Laurent
Danijela Puric-Mladenovic
Sebastien Rodrigue
Raju Soolanayakanahally
Seth Spawn
Maria Strack
Carolyn Smyth
Naresh Thevathasan
Mihai Voicu
Christopher Williams
Peter Woodbury
Devon Worth
Zhen Xu
Samantha Yeo
Werner Kurz
Contacts
Resource Date:
June
2021

Alongside the steep reductions needed in fossil fuel emissions, natural climate solutions (NCS) represent readily deployable options that can contribute to Canada’s goals for emission reductions. We estimate the mitigation potential of 24 NCS related to the protection, management, and restoration of natural systems that can also deliver numerous co-benefits, such as enhanced soil productivity, clean air and water, and biodiversity conservation. NCS can provide up to 78.2 (41.0 to 115.1) Tg CO2e/year (95% CI) of mitigation annually in 2030 and 394.4 (173.2 to 612.4) Tg CO2e cumulatively between 2021 and 2030, with 34% available at ≤CAD 50/Mg CO2e. Avoided conversion of grassland, avoided peatland disturbance, cover crops, and improved forest management offer the largest mitigation opportunities. The mitigation identified here represents an important potential contribution to the Paris Agreement, such that NCS combined with existing mitigation plans could help Canada to meet or exceed its climate goals.