Climate change solutions
We deliver game-changing environmental solutions that have a real impact for people around the globe.
Building resilient land and water systems that allow people and nature to prosper in a changing climate.
Last week, Governor DeSantis signed SB302 Coastal Resiliency into law, elevating the use of nature-based solutions and hybrid approaches to improve coastal resiliency across the state. This marks a huge step that few states if any have taken and marks Florida as a leader in addressing resilience statewide with long-term solutions.
As extreme weather has increased in the past several decades, Florida has experienced large-scale coastal community disasters from hurricanes, tropical storms and severe downpours totaling over $270 billion in the last ten years.
Despite the proven effectiveness of nature-based solutions like living shorelines, mangroves, and wetlands in reducing flooding and coastal damage and erosion from major storm events, they remain underutilized in resiliency development. That lack of clarity and consistency in the development, permitting, and implementation processes were barriers to implementation.
This new law championed by EDF and partners, which had full, bi-partisan support among legislators, aims to address shortcomings and bring nature-based solutions into the mainstream by:
Standardizing nature-based solutions design and implementation
Nature-based solutions projects have often seemed like one-off “unicorn” projects – highly tailored to specific local conditions, which can make them a challenge to permit, evaluate and replicate. Under this new Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will develop design guidelines and standards to improve project consistency, fast track implementation and scalability of nature-based resilience solutions. It will also clarify when and how nature-based approaches, and green-gray hybrid approaches, should be applied, making them a more routine part of standard resilience practice.
Establishing statewide permitting for nature-based solutions
Permitting has been one of the biggest hurdles facing nature-based projects. The absence of clear standards, along with no consistent approval process, has made permitting slow and unpredictable. Combined with the urgency to rebuild after storms, agencies often default to traditional “gray” infrastructure—even in cases where nature-based solutions or green-gray hybrids could be more cost-effective and equally or more effective. With this new law, the DEP will be required to establish a statewide permitting process and procedure specifically for nature-based solutions. This will establish predictability and help expedite the permitting process across jurisdictions. The law will also change existing permitting processes that allow failed coastal infrastructure to be replaced with nature-based infrastructure following storm events.
Improving public awareness and support for nature-based solutions
Despite the effectiveness of nature-based solutions, their benefits to coastal resiliency are often not widely known by the public, which is necessary to gain robust support from citizens. A key benefit of this is the requirement that DEP and local governments promote public awareness and education of the benefits and value of these solutions, especially during the rebuilding period.
Making nature-based solutions easier to implement and scalable across Florida, making them more favorable options in line with traditional measures will make Florida communities safer. After years of advocacy, we at EDF are pleased to see this legislation adopted by the state of Florida and look forward to helping put into action.
In December, a group of 15 people began walking a field at Caswell Research Farm, one of three water farming demonstration sites in North Carolina. The group—made up of state officials, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) staff, conservation leaders and members of the agricultural community—had gathered for a firsthand look at how natural infrastructure solutions reduce flooding in real-time.
As the group moved across the farm, they viewed a row crop field intentionally redesigned to capture and hold excessive rainwater. Alongside it, they saw an irrigation pond engineered as additional capacity to also temporarily hold excess surface water. Researchers explained how the systems function, answered critical questions and shared early insights. Seeing an example of natural infrastructure fully implemented on agricultural lands—in a state where flooding challenges are growing—left many energized and eager to see resilience solutions expanded.
Like many states, North Carolina is facing more frequent and increasingly severe storms. In just the past decade, the state has experienced 3 hurricanes, Matthew and Florence along the coast, and Helene hitting the mountain communities in the west, all causing widespread flooding and devastation. These events have underscored a sobering reality for leaders: our society’s traditional approach to flood control is no longer sufficient.
In response, in 2019, researchers at North Carolina State University, led by Barbara Doll, began studying natural infrastructure solutions. Their goal was to better understand—and quantify—how nature-based practices could reduce flood risk for downstream communities. Their work expanded to the broader Neuse River Basin, providing critical data on where and how upstream interventions could make the greatest difference.
Armed with this science, and supported by partners such as EDF, the North Carolina General Assembly, in 2021 launched and funded the Flood Resiliency Blueprint—an effort designed to get ahead of future disasters by prioritizing flood resilience solutions, particularly nature-based approaches that slow and/or store water before it reaches vulnerable communities. In 2023, a suite of natural infrastructure pilots were funded with NC Land and Water Fund resources.
Natural infrastructure solutions–such as restoring streams, reconnecting floodplains or building wetlands–are designed to mimic the natural ecological processes of a landscape. But in regions with a strong agricultural presence, innovative approaches are needed that both manage water and work for farmers. Farmers themselves are experiencing negative impacts from flooding on their land and recognize the need for coordinated, regional water management. They are more willing to collaborate when solutions not only support conservation goals but also provide economic or operational benefits to their farms.
Water farming may be one such solution. Water farming involves temporarily holding back excess rainwater on upstream farms that sit near rivers or streams to lessen flooding impacts downstream. This can be done by allowing dedicated low-lying fields to ‘flood’ and hold excess rainwater. Another option is constructing a drainage pond on marginal or unused farmland specifically reserved for collecting excess surface water. By storing water during heavy rain events, these systems reduce the volume and speed of water flowing into rivers. If these practices are implemented at scale, they can help prevent rivers from becoming inundated and flooding nearby communities. For farmers, the stored water can be repurposed for supplemental irrigation, providing value during dry periods.
Water farming is not entirely new—the concept originated in Florida’s citrus groves as a way to manage hurricane floodwaters and has been tried in the plains of North Dakota as well. But it is new to North Carolina and holds promise for other states with extensive agricultural landscapes.
Similar practices are being explored by other states as well. In Iowa, for example, farms are piloting a practice called drainage water recycling, which uses an irrigation pond to capture, store and repurpose excess water from tile drainage systems, reducing downstream impacts while providing an additional water source for crop irrigation.
In North Carolina, three water farming demonstration sites are now up and running. Together, these pilots will allow researchers to observe the benefits of the practice in real time, evaluate the economics for farmers and study how these practices can be scaled across a watershed in the future.
Caswell Research Farm represents resilience building in action—proof that natural infrastructure solutions can provide valuable flood reduction benefits while also supporting farmers and other stakeholders. As flooding continues to pose a growing threat in North Carolina and across the United States, more real life efforts like these, backed by investment, collaboration and innovation, are needed to meet the challenge.
With rising costs, tighter margins and more uncertainty on the farm, it’s harder than ever for America’s farmers and ranchers to stay competitive. Historically, innovation has helped U.S. agriculture do more with less through increasing yields while managing costs. But today, producers are not only navigating domestic pressures. They are also facing intensifying global competition from countries like Brazil, where productivity levels, while not yet on par with U.S. growers, are improving and benefit from multiple growing cycles per year.
As new agricultural technologies continue to emerge across the sector, U.S. policy must keep pace to ensure producers can translate innovation into real, on-the-ground gains and remain globally competitive without being undercut by uneven market conditions.
Our analysis of nearly 400 companies and their innovations — from early-stage startups to large enterprises — shows that American agriculture can play a transformational role in accelerating emissions-reducing practices and technologies. We identified five key areas that demonstrate both market-readiness and strong potential to increase farm productivity:
To support both the adoption of existing innovations and the development of new ones, Congress has an opportunity to expand funding for research and on-farm adoption, advance supportive legislation, and invest in emerging technologies that help farmers boost productivity and strengthen the long-term resilience of U.S. agriculture.
The U.S. has captured 41% ($6.6 billion) of the $16 billion global agtech market, underscoring investor confidence and America’s leadership in the industry. Maintaining this position in a rapidly evolving global economy is not self-sustaining without continued investment.
Much of the existing investment targets technology and outputs that are already defined and clear, which leaves an opportunity gap to accelerate innovation from the lab to the field.
When I first came back to the farm, one of the first challenges my dad gave me was to try to get our soybean yield above 50 bushels to the acre. And so I went to work collecting harvest data from our equipment. We started taking grid samples of the whole farm and started finding hot spots. It’s easy doing precision. And within two years, we’re averaging closer to 60 [bushels per acre] now.
Ty Graham is part of the American Farmers for Conservation affiliation and is a rice, corn and soybean farmer of G&G Farm in Arkansas.
One key opportunity to do this is fully funding the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority (AgARDA). Modeled after successful research agencies at the Departments of Defense and Energy, AgARDA was authorized at a level that reflects its potential, but has yet to receive sufficient appropriations, leaving a powerful tool that could provide high risk, high reward results for farmers underutilized.
At the same time, scaling up AgARDA alone is not sufficient. Breakthrough research only delivers value if it is paired with the infrastructure needed to test, validate and scale promising technologies. Fully funding AgARDA is a critical first step in building this broader ecosystem — so technologies don’t stall between the lab and the field.
Farmers and ranchers need practical tools that deliver real returns on the ground. Bipartisan solutions like the EMIT LESS Act would strengthen USDA’s capacity to test and validate enteric methane-reducing products and practices, expand on-farm innovation trials and support voluntary adoption through existing conservation programs. All of this will help producers improve efficiency while managing risks to their operations.
With the right mix of tools, investments and policies, U.S. agriculture can meet today’s challenges and seize tomorrow’s opportunities. Strategic public and private investment can help farmers adopt innovative conservation practices that lower costs, improve efficiency and strengthen environmental outcomes.
By supporting research and scaling proven solutions, the U.S. can ensure our agricultural sector continues to lead globally in productivity and innovation, securing economic stability for rural communities while protecting air, water and soil for future generations.
By: Karly Kelso, Vrashabh Kapate, and Sarah Swain
Reposted from EDF’s Climate 411
COP30 in Belém, Brazil revealed a striking paradox for food systems. Pavilions buzzed with urgency as indigenous communities, local leaders, farmers, and youth demanded immediate action on nature and food. Yet formal negotiations told a different story: the final COP text mentioned food only once – with no mention of food systems as a whole – despite clear scientific consensus that sustainable agri-food systems are vital to move the needle on climate.
So, without perfect COP outcome text, how can we convert this on-the-ground momentum into results? One way forward is through the COP30 Action Agenda – the delivery track that organizes governments, development banks, companies, and civil society around shared priorities and moves projects into implementation when formal text doesn’t go far enough.
The Action Agenda clusters work around six thematic axes – including food and agriculture – and uses activation groups of small, convened teams to set near-term milestones, build pipelines, and get finance moving.
As we come to the end of another record-breaking year for extreme weather, we can see the effects on our plates. Climate change is on the table for both producers and consumers, and leaders must continue to drive global visions forward with local solutions, connecting how critical producers and consumers are to each other.
As the global climate conference COP30 concluded this year, Brazil had the daunting task of pursuing the unity and multilateralism that United Nations processes call for in the name of people and the planet. But what was clear from COP30 is that the agrifood systems community has been successful in helping climate leaders understand that the critical impact of agriculture and food on climate change (and vice versa) requires full-scale engagement.
We can build that deep engagement by creating win-win solutions, supporting adaptation as a means to mitigation and connecting each piece — from behavior change to science and innovation to financial incentives — for a genuine ecosystem approach.
Authors: Alison Eagle, Jocelyn Lavallee, Renske Hijbeek
Soil is one of our best allies in tackling climate change, but it’s also one of the most misunderstood. Myths about what soil can (and can’t) do still shape global debates. That’s why scientists from Environmental Defense Fund and Wageningen University dug into the data to bring clarity. Because sound science is the foundation of sound policy.
Why soil matters.
Healthy soils are essential for climate change mitigation and sustainable food production. But while improving soil carbon is part of the solution, it’s not a silver bullet. Real progress requires a whole food-system approach that balances production, consumption, and land use – while cutting emissions across agriculture and beyond.
The Trump administration has just announced that they will redefine which wetlands and waters have Clean Water Act protections in a new proposed Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. This rule creates tremendous uncertainty and risk for our nation’s drinking water, flood protections and critical habitats. Based on our peer-reviewed analysis, the new wetland rules could leave nearly all wetlands without Clean Water Act protections.
New York City faces a twin crisis: housing that is increasingly unaffordable, unavailable and unsafe, and climate impacts—like flooding, sea level rise and extreme heat—that are growing more frequent and severe. In fact, more than half of all households are rent-burdened and tens of thousands of those homes are facing climate risks. Low-income residents and communities of color are affected disproportionately by both crises.
By Mallory Honan, Scientist, Livestock Methane; Jack Killcoyne, Senior Research Analyst, Global Livestock Methane; Peri Rosenstein, Senior Scientist, Livestock Systems
A dairy cow’s diet is an integral part of her well-being and productivity; it’s also a critical opportunity for reducing methane emissions. Similar to humans, what cows eat impacts their ability to live healthy, productive lives. Therefore, a major priority for farmers and nutritionists is formulating a diet that satisfies their cows’ dietary requirements.
Unlike humans, though, cows are ruminants — animals that have a compartmentalized digestive organ (three pre-stomachs and one true stomach) — and they digest food very differently. The largest component of their pre-stomach and main site of digestion is aptly named the rumen. This chamber acts as a fermentation vat, with microbes breaking down nutrients from feed. The cow then burps out methane produced as a byproduct via these microbial digestive processes, also known as enteric fermentation.
Managing the Mississippi River Basin at a state level is like making a movie without the director, writers, and actors talking to each other. Despite being the largest watershed in the country, the Mississippi River Basin has no comprehensive restoration program.
