Nature-Based Recommendations in the Climate Crisis Report

On June 30, the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis released its staff report, Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America. The report is informed by over a year and a half of public engagement and research, including 17 hearings on a wide variety of climate change issues and hundreds of suggestions from stakeholders—such as EESI—and the public. This article is part of a series highlighting key policy suggestions from the Select Committee.

The report aligns with EESI’s suggestion to promote nature-based solutions, referred to as natural climate solutions in the report. EESI defines nature-based solutions as those “restoring and/or emulating nature in order to increase human, ecosystem, and infrastructure resilience to climate impacts,” and uses it as an umbrella term that encompasses green infrastructure and natural infrastructure as sub-categories. Green infrastructure projects are generally built or engineered solutions that combine conventional gray infrastructure with natural processes and features to create hybrid systems. Natural infrastructure projects use existing or restored natural landscapes (e.g., forests, floodplains, and wetlands) to increase resilience to climate impacts.

Nature-based solutions are highly effective climate resilience measures that can generate environmental, economic, and social co-benefits, including carbon sequestration. Nature-based solutions generally require less long-term maintenance than gray infrastructure, and often have lower up-front costs. The Solving the Climate Crisis report calls for these benefits to be put into action across the country, signaling a commitment to a cleaner, greener, more inclusive future.

The staff report highlights nature-based solutions in six of the 12 key pillars of action that structure its approach. In particular, it recommends supporting new nature-based solutions to improve storm, sea level rise, erosion, and flood resilience while harnessing the ability of natural systems to sequester atmospheric carbon and preserve habitat.

 

Invest in Infrastructure to Build a Just, Equitable, and Resilient Clean Energy Economy (Pillar 1)

The report highlights the potential of green and natural infrastructure to protect against flooding and improve water systems. It recommends that communities expand green and natural infrastructure, and identifies ways for Congress to facilitate this expansion through various funding mechanisms.

Many communities rely on levees for flood protection, which can damage and displace riparian vegetation that helps to absorb and slow floodwaters while providing habitat for wildlife. The report calls for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and planners to integrate wetlands and natural floodplains into flood risk management infrastructure. Specifically, the report recommends directing USACE to identify flood infrastructure in poor condition that could be replaced with nature-based features and green infrastructure, and to apply consistent cost-share requirements for natural infrastructure projects.

The report also highlights the application of nature-based solutions to develop resilience to sea level rise, flooding, and storm surges. Marshes, wetlands, forests, and other such natural features absorb floodwaters, protecting lives and structures from their direct impacts. Green and natural infrastructure also helps protect water quality by filtering or absorbing polluted stormwater and preventing it from contaminating water resources. The report recommends three funding strategies for Congress to encourage green and natural infrastructure: requiring that states use some of their annual Clean Water State Revolving Fund allocations for green infrastructure projects, creating an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant program to fund green infrastructure projects, and amending the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act to allow funds from the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program to be used on natural infrastructure projects for transportation facilities.

Finally, the report recommends that Congress facilitate research, development, and deployment of green infrastructure by directing the EPA to establish “centers of excellence for innovative stormwater and floodplain management.” These centers would collaborate with a variety of stakeholders, provide regionally-relevant technical assistance, and provide training in stormwater and floodplain management.

 

Drive Innovation and Deployment of Clean Energy and Deep Decarbonization Technologies (Pillar 2)

The report identifies several research priorities to address greenhouse gas emissions and improve climate resilience, one of which is natural climate solutions. It recommends increased funding for research on the lifecycle impacts and benefits of wood use and products, biomass, forest restoration, forest health, and carbon sequestration on lands, forests, soils, and marine ecosystems.

 

Break Down Barriers for Clean Energy Technologies (Pillar 4)

The majority staff recommend establishing a carbon pricing system to incentivize economy-wide emission reductions. A carbon price would generate federal revenue, which the report recommends be used to address “top priorities,” one of which is supporting natural climate solutions. This recommendation is consistent with EESI’s proposals for carbon pricing, which suggest nature-based infrastructure solutions as potential recipients of carbon pricing revenue.

 

Invest in America’s Workers and Build a Fairer Economy (Pillar 5)

The staff report identifies natural climate solutions and conservation as initiatives that will require a trained workforce to implement. The report suggests re-launching the New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps (a public work relief program), in alignment with EESI’s observation that a decarbonized workforce will involve jobs outside of the energy sector and that nature-based jobs and environmental reclamation are promising sectors for job creation.

 

Invest in American Agriculture for Climate Solutions (Pillar 8)

The report focuses on nature-based solutions as both climate resilience and mitigation strategies in the agricultural sector. This is also consistent with EESI’s recommendations to the committee. The report recommends increasing funding for climate-smart agricultural programs “to maximize climate mitigation and resilience potential on farms and ranches,” as well as land retirement and easement programs to protect land from development. The report also notes the importance of preventing the conversion of wetlands, forests, and prairies into crop land; keeping such natural features intact would also provide mitigation and resilience benefits.

Urban agriculture programs are featured in the report as another way to create jobs and improve local communities. Urban agriculture can improve resilience by localizing the food supply, reducing runoff, and improving community buy-in. The report also notes the climate mitigation benefits of urban agriculture, such as reducing the heat-island effect, reducing transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing waste. Through increased federal funding to the Office of Urban Agriculture, the report suggests that urban farmers can take advantage of these environmental benefits while improving access to fresh food for city residents.

While urban agriculture provides important environmental and social benefits, 97 percent of the United States land mass is rural, and the inclusion of rural communities is crucial for any climate action plan. However, rural voters are often at odds with federal policy decisions despite their concerns for the environment, requiring new creative solutions to rural environmental policy. The report notes this concern: “Congress should dramatically increase investments to support the efforts of America’s farmers and ranchers to employ climate stewardship practices.”

 

Protect and Restore America’s Lands, Waters, Ocean, and Wildlife (Pillar 10)

The report also focuses on the benefits America's natural resources can provide in the climate crisis, such as carbon sequestration, flood protection, and water quality improvement. In order to “capture the full potential of natural climate solutions,” the report sets a national 30x30 goal: to “protect at least 30% of all U.S. lands and ocean areas by 2030 ... prioritizing areas with high ecological, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration value.” The report highlights the importance of supporting and empowering tribal nations, local communities, and environmental justice communities in order to achieve this goal.

Other climate mitigation strategies noted in the report include restoration of abandoned mines, increased funding for the National Park Service, and the incorporation of climate into the mission of the U.S. Forest Service. These three strategies will not only increase carbon sequestration, but are also expected to create jobs and stimulate local economies.

Public waters are also crucial to solving the climate crisis. The report, as well as EESI’s recommendations, recognize the value of nature-based solutions for coastal and riverine resilience: “Nature-based infrastructure, such as living shorelines, wetlands, oyster reefs, and dunes, buffers the impacts of storms and sea level rise in a cost-effective way while providing valuable co-benefits such as climate mitigation, wildlife habitat, water quality, and recreation opportunities.”

The report calls for increased funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coastal Resilience Grants Program in order to improve and sustain local resilience programs. It also recommends creating more programs like the NOAA one, implementing other funding programs such as a revolving loan fund, prioritizing nature-based infrastructure through permitting and investments and for projects on federal or Department of Defense land. Because these climate solutions are so cross-cutting, the report also suggests the creation of programs to increase communication and collaboration between federal bureaus and between federal, state and local officials.

 

Assess the True Value of Federal Climate Action

The report recommends changes to how climate benefits and costs are evaluated in federally-supported projects, since the benefits of nature-based solutions are difficult to quantify using current cost-benefit analysis techniques. The benefits of hard infrastructure are most easily monetizable and are felt more immediately, but natural infrastructure provides long-term benefits through lower maintenance costs. This proposal complements EESI’s recommendation to direct the Congressional Budget Office and Office of Management and Budget to revise their methods to fully account for the benefits and costs of climate policy.

 

Authors: Abby Neal and Bridget Williams