This Research Forum is sponsored by SDSS’s Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFI) and made possible by support from the SDSS Sustainability Accelerator Program on Greenhouse Gas Removal (GHG-R) and by members of the SFI Affiliates Program. 
 
Achieving the climate policy goals of the Paris Agreement entails reducing our emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) as well as proactively removing existing GHGs from the atmosphere. Estimates suggest that nature-based climate solutions (NbCS) such as  enhanced weathering (EW), biochar (BC) and reforestation/afforestation (AR)could collectively remove 9.4 Gt CDR/yr (~4 Gt/yr for EW 2 , 1.8 Gt/yr for BC 3,4 and 3.6 Gt/yr for AR 5 ).

Investments in nature-based removal projects are growing quickly, encouraged by the advent of multiple scientific and technological innovations in sensors, geo-chemical engineering, synthetic biology, and more, as well as by increasing proposals to monetize these assets through voluntary, transnational carbon markets. However, overcoming barriers to the widespread implementation of nature-based removals requires addressing various sources of scientific uncertainty in the measurement and monitoring of GHG fluxes at the project level.

There is also a need for scientifically-informed, consensus-based definitions of what constitutes a tradeable ton of carbon-equivalent assets. In addition, NbCS will benefit from the development of a functional carbon marketplace, as well as measuring, monitoring, reporting, and verification (MMRV) protocols that incorporate improved carbon accounting practices and state-of-the-art techniques for modeling GHG fluxes with uncertainty estimations. 
 
In this two-hour online meeting, attendees will hear from Stanford researchers working to address these and other key challenges in order to advance the science, technology, financing, and governance of nature-based carbon removals. Participants will also have the opportunity to share their insights and feedback on current research through a moderated discussion. 
 

Research Forum - Agenda: 

• Introductions (Abigail Martin)
• Nature-Based Removals Research at Stanford’s Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFI) (Tom Heller)
• Governance: Recent developments in US national policy for GHG-R MMRV (David Hayes) 
• The state of play and current scientific challenges in MMRV for nature-based removals (Kate Maher, Alexandra Ringsby, Brian Rogers)  
• Integrating open-system MMRV with credible emissions accounting frameworks (Marc Roston)
• Discussion  & Moderated Q&A (Abigail Martin), with invited comments from  participants on applied use cases, experimental pilots to advance science, MMRV, financing, and governance for nature-based removals, and other topics covered during the presentations