SOLVING THE CLIMATE CRISIS: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America

Summary/Abstract

This report lays out a framework for comprehensive congressional action on climate change and identifies the need to develop and deploy a suite of natural and technological carbon removal solutions to reduce carbon pollution as quickly as possible. The report identifies that Congress should dramatically increase federal investment in carbon removal research and development; improve financial incentives for direct air capture technology; expand demonstration projects to safely store carbon below ground; and create markets for fuels made from carbon captured from the atmosphere. The report also identifies that forests and “blue carbon systems”—including ocean, wetland, and riverine ecosystems—are critical carbon sinks and provide important resilience services. Congress should protect mature and old growth forests; invest in forest restoration, reforestation, and afforestation on public and private lands, including urban areas to improve urban tree canopy; manage wildfire for community safety and ecological health; ensure forest management activities focus on climate and biodiversity benefits; and protect and restore native grasslands. In addition, Congress should increase funding for NOAA to expand research on the ocean carbon cycle, including the effects of declining marine mammal and fish populations on blue carbon sequestration.

See the following sections in the report for more detail: