In a speech in Azerbaijan on Friday, United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell said the world needs at least $2.4 trillion each year to keep global climate goals within reach.
Stiell, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, gave a timeline of the measures — and funding — that will be needed to implement Paris Agreement goals and keep Earth’s temperature below 1.5 degree Celsius.
“We must spend the year working collectively to evolve our global financial system so it’s fit-for-purpose, with a clear plan to meaningfully execute the climate transition,” Stiell told students at Baku’s Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. “Looking at the numbers, it’s clear that to achieve this transition, we need money, and lots of it. $2.4 trillion, if not more.”
Azerbaijan is set to host the COP29 climate summit this November.
It was the first major speech Stiell had given since COP28 in Dubai last year, reported Reuters.
“$2.4 trillion is what the High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance estimates is needed every year to invest in renewable energy, adaptation, and other climate-related issues in developing countries, excluding China,” Stiell said in the address. “Whether on slashing emissions or building climate-resilience, it’s already blazingly obvious that finance is the make-or-break factor in the world’s climate fight – in quantity, quality, and innovation.”
The major focus of the climate conference in Azerbaijan will be climate finance. Governments will be asked to come up with a new goal for raising capital after 2025 for developing countries’ efforts to adapt to the effects of climate change and reduce fossil fuel emissions, Reuters reported.
Just last year, nations met their 2009 goal of $100 billion annually for climate finance by 2020.
“[W]ithout far more finance, 2023’s climate wins will quickly fizzle away into more empty promises,” Stiell said. “We need torrents – not trickles – of climate finance.”
By next year’s COP30 in Brazil, nations will need to have new, more forceful pledges ready for reducing emissions, as well as the funds to make them a reality, UN climate officials said, as reported by The Associated Press.
“Climate finance must not be quietly pilfered from aid budgets,” Stiell said in the speech. “2024 is the year multi-lateral development banks must demonstrate – with concrete actions – their centrality in the world’s climate fight, and their determination to deliver impact at scale. They should take bold steps towards financial innovation that will double, if not triple, their collective financial capacity by 2030 — particularly with respect to grants and concessional finance.”
Stiell warned against taking “victory laps” following the Global Stocktake agreement at COP28 in Dubai, considering there is so much work to be done.
“It will take an Olympian effort over the next two years to put us on track to where we need to be in 2030 and 2050. In fact, the action we take in the next two years will shape how much climate-driven destruction we can avoid over the next two decades, and far beyond,” Stiell said.
A new study highlights the risk of depending on soil carbon sequestration as a way to offset the emissions produced from raising livestock.
The study found that offsetting the methane and nitrous oxide emissions from the global livestock industry would require 135 gigatonnes (135 billion metric tons) of carbon stocks. According to the authors, that amount is nearly double the carbon stored in managed grasslands globally. Some regions would require an increase in carbon sequestration in the soil of up to 2,000% to match livestock emissions. The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.
Peter Smith, co-author of the study and chair of the Plant and Soil Science at University of Aberdeen, said the study is “a nail in the coffin for the suggestion that carbon sequestration can offset the methane emissions” produced by the global livestock industry, as reported by DeSmog.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on its website that a single cow emits around 154 to 264 pounds of methane per year. While methane doesn’t last as long in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, it is about 28 times more potent. Methane is linked to about 30% of global warming, according to the International Energy Agency. Nitrous oxide, another commonly emitted gas from livestock, is a long-lasting greenhouse gas that is about 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
In total, livestock emissions are estimated to make up around 11.1% to 19.6% of total global emissions, The Breakthrough Institute reported.
Another study published in March 2023 revealed that veterinary antibiotics used for livestock can further limit the ability of soil to sequester carbon. Further, the March 2023 study noted that the microbial carbon use efficiency on soils under livestock areas was 19% lower than areas with native herbivores.
In New Zealand, the agriculture industry is already looking toward other methods to minimize emissions, knowing that depending on carbon stocks in soil wouldn’t be sufficient. Professor Louis Schipper at Waikato University told Farmers Weekly, “We already have high soil carbon stocks and no evidence of gains on flat land. A possibly more important consideration is avoiding losses of existing soil carbon stocks, such as from drained peat soil, excessive periodic cropping with bare ground and large offtakes.”
The authors of the new study said the primary goal is to reduce emissions, rather than offset them. In addition to phasing out fossil fuels, the authors suggested solutions such as reducing the number of livestock, improving animal health and better managing livestock waste.
Additionally, the authors wrote that there will need to be more efforts to restore grasslands, preserve their stored carbon and continue to increase carbon stocks.
In December, a federal judge found that Enel Green Power, an Italian energy corporation operating an 84-turbine wind farm on the Osage Reservation for nearly a decade, had trespassed on Native land. The ruling was a clear victory for the Osage Nation and the company estimated that complying with the order to tear down the turbines would cost nearly $260 million.
Attorneys familiar with Federal Indian law say it’s uncommon for U.S. courts to side so clearly with tribal nations and actually expel developers trespassing on their land. But observers also see the ruling as part of a broader trend: Gone are the days when developers could ignore Indigenous rights with impunity. Now, even if projects that threaten Native land and cultural resources ultimately proceed, they may come with years-long delays that tack on millions of dollars. As more companies look to build wind and solar farms or mine minerals for renewable energy, failing to recognize Indigenous sovereignty could make the clean energy transition a lot more expensive and much further away.
“I think tribes are starting to see that they have more leverage than they thought, and that they’ve previously exercised, over all this infrastructure that’s on their land,” said Pilar Thomas, an attorney, member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona and former deputy director of the Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs at the U.S. Department of Energy. “They want to make sure that they’re getting their fair share.”
Rick Tallman, a program manager at Colorado School of Mines’ Center for Native American Mining and Energy Sovereignty who has spent more than two decades working on financing and consulting for clean energy projects, calls the Osage Nation ruling a wake-up call.
“If you’re going to develop energy in the U.S. you’ve got to do it with the support of tribal communities,” he said.
According to Tallman, investors don’t like uncertainty. He said a lot of infrastructure funders are very conservative and won’t back a project unless they are confident it will succeed, which includes getting the buy-in of affected Indigenous Nations. There’s no upper limit to how much the project could cost if investors don’t get it right.
Marion Werkheiser, founding partner of Cultural Heritage Partners, said the costs are so high that some renewable energy projects never even get off the ground, citing the Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound that was opposed by members of the Wampanoag Tribe.
And it’s not just a U.S. trend; Indigenous peoples around the world are fighting to enforce their rights, especially the right to free, prior and informed consent to projects on their land–a concept enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. However, the U.S. hasn’t codified that into law, and compliance globally is spotty.
“Renewable energies are actually not that good in respecting Indigenous rights,” said Genevieve Rose from the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. “They have this feeling that because they bring up something good, something green, that they are automatically a good thing.”
But her colleague David Berger said there’s more awareness and resistance from Indigenous peoples, and companies are being forced to factor in those costs. He pointed to Norway, where the state-owned company that developed an illegal wind farm has agreed to pay Indigenous Sámi people about $675,000 every year for the next 25 years for violating their rights. “What’s good is you have that legal structure so communities can push back,” Berger said.
Wesley Furlong, an Anchorage-based senior staff attorney at the Native American Rights Fund, said more tribes are filing lawsuits in the U.S., partly because the legal landscape is changing. For example, the National Historic Preservation Act, a federal law managing the preservation of historic resources, has been around since 1966, but it was only in 1999 that the federal government codified regulations related to communicating with tribes about projects that affect them, and the rules weren’t fully in effect until 2004. Some tribes are just now learning about their rights.
Another reason for the increase in lawsuits is because some tribal nations have more resources to fund litigation. “Indian gaming has been a game-changer for tribes to be able to raise revenue and hire attorneys,” Furlong said.
That combination of more legal tools, more financial resources and more education about Native rights, Furlong said, has led to more tribes getting involved in energy developments on their traditional and ancestral territories, including lands with historic connections and are not owned by a tribe. And he only expects that to continue: Most of the U.S. reserves of lithium, copper, cobalt and nickel — metals key to the clean energy transition — are within 35 miles of Federal Indian Reservations, according to a study by the investment firm MSCI.
That’s something renewable energy developers need to be aware of, said Thomas. “I am a staunch believer that if you are within spitting distance of a tribe that you should be engaged in outreach to the tribe,” she said.
Not every project is going to get buy-in, she adds, but she encourages companies to have patience and continue to reach out to tribes even if they don’t respond. Furlong from the Native American Rights Fund said project proponents may erroneously assume that tribes will always be opposed, forgetting that tribal governments want what’s in the best interest of their citizens.
Bottom line, it’s much less costly for companies to invest in tribal consultations and get them right from the get-go, says Daniel Cardenas, the head of the National Tribal Energy Association and a member of the Pit River Tribe who has consulted with tribes and companies regarding fossil fuel projects. “The cost of engagement is almost nothing compared to the cost of what they’re going to have to pay [if they don’t do it right],” he said of developers.
Werkheiser has seen some progress, with some banks, insurance companies and energy developers adopting Indigenous peoples policies to guide their investments and some companies undergoing voluntary certifications to show their projects are ethical and respectful of Indigenous rights. “Financial institutions are recognizing that this is a real business risk and they’re building it into the cost of capital for these companies,” she said.
But overall, change is slow, she said.
“For the most part, the renewable energy developers are repeating the mistakes that fossil fuels developers have made over the years,” she said. “They’re not engaging with tribes early as potential partners and information sources during their planning process, and they are basically deferring their own relationship with tribes to the federal government.”
That’s a mistake, said David Kane, a consultant who leads WindHorse Strategic Initiatives. Energy companies often mistakenly perceive tribal chairs as though they are the equivalent of small-town mayors, rather than recognizing them as heads of state.
Because of that, he says companies often disrespect tribes from the beginning by sending lower-level representatives to liaise with them, and many companies may never even step foot on a reservation or go before tribal councils. Developers often complain that it takes a long time to build relationships with tribal members but Kane says it’s better to do so before projects get underway.
“There’s still a lot of mistrust of white men and with good reason,” he said. And the energy industry, including renewables, he said, is still predominantly white and male.
Another challenge is that sometimes companies assume what will work with one tribe will work with another, said Cardenas from the National Tribal Energy Association.
“There’s 574 tribes, and each one operates differently and independently,” he said. “So if you know one tribe, you just know one tribe.”
He thinks tribal nations should be seen as partners, even sponsoring partners, with shared equity in the developments. There’s growing interest: Over the past two decades, tribal nations have pursued hundreds of clean energy projects, with the Inflation Reduction Act recently increasing funding for such projects.
But in the meantime, costly litigation continues. Last week in the U.S., four tribal nations sued a developer to prevent a $10 billion wind energy transmission line from going into operation. And in Oklahoma, the Osage Nation is now seeking damages from Enel. A judge still needs to decide how much that will cost the company.
When governments find themselves fighting the threat of coastal erosion, their default response tends to be pretty simple: If sand is disappearing from a beach, they pump in more sand to replace it. This strategy, known as “beach nourishment,” has become a cornerstone of coastal defenses around the world, complementing hard structures like sea walls. North Carolina, for instance, has dumped more than 100 million tons of sand onto its beaches over the past 30 years, at a cost of more than $1 billion.
The problem with beach nourishment is obvious. If you dump sand on an eroding beach, it’s only a matter of time before that new sand erodes. Then you have to do it all over again.
Beach nourishment projects are supposed to last for around five years, but they often disappear faster than expected. Moreover, a big coastal storm can wipe them out in a single night. And the costs are staggering: Dragging in new sand requires leasing and operating huge diesel dredge boats. Only the wealthiest areas can afford to do it year after year.
Now, after decades of reliance on repeated beach nourishment, a new strategy for managing erosion is showing up on coastlines around the world. It’s called the “sand motor,” and it comes from the Netherlands, a low-lying nation with centuries of experience in coastal protection.
A “sand motor” isn’t an actual motor — it’s a sculpted landscape that works with nature rather than against it. Instead of rebuilding a beach with an even line of new sand, engineers extend one section of the shoreline out into the sea at an angle.. Over time, the natural wave action of the ocean acts as a “motor” that pushes the sand from this protruding landmass out along the rest of the natural shoreline, spreading it down the coastline for miles.
While sand motors require much more upfront investment than normal beach nourishment — and many times more sand — they also protect more land and last much longer. Developed countries such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are turning to these megaprojects as an alternative to repeated nourishment, and the World Bank is financing a sand motor in West Africa as part of a billion-dollar adaptation program meant to fight sea level rise. But these massive projects only work in areas where erosion is not yet at a critical stage. That means they’re unlikely to show up in the United States, where many coastal areas are already on the point of disappearing altogether.
The idea for the project came from a Dutch professor named Marcel Stive, who had watched with frustration as his country’s government spent billions to nourish the same coastal areas over and over again as sea levels kept rising. Stive presented the idea to the government, which hired a large dredging company called Boskalis to build a prototype on the shoreline south of The Hague.
Even this experimental project, which the Dutch call “de Zandmotor,” was an unprecedented undertaking. Boskalis dredged up around 28 million cubic yards of sand from the ocean floor — more the Netherlands uses on nourishment projects nationwide in a given year. Engineers then sculpted the sand into a hook that curved eastward along the shore, ensuring that waves would push the sand northeast toward beaches near The Hague. They also created a lagoon in the middle of the sand structure so that locals wouldn’t have to walk for almost a mile to get to the water. In the years since Boskalis finished construction on the $50 million project, the hook of sand has flattened out, almost the way a wave breaks as it reaches the shore.
“By mobilizing your dredging equipment only once, it’s cheaper to do one large nourishment rather than to return every two to three years,” said Mark Klein, a senior morphology engineer at Boskalis who has worked on sand motor projects. “It saves mobilization costs if you make one big nourishment.”
The upfront costs of the South Holland sand motor were considerable — most normal beach nourishment projects clock in at under a million cubic yards — but the sand and the money will go much farther than they would if they’d been used for ordinary nourishment. The sand motor was designed to last for 20 years, but Klein says it will likely last even longer than expected — an unheard-of outcome for an erosion control project.
Despite the project’s success, only a few countries have attempted to copy the Dutch model. Nigeria created a sculpted sandbar in a suburb of Lagos in 2018, and the United Kingdom built a shifting sand barrier to protect a natural gas terminal in the coastal town of Bacton the following year. Both were far smaller than the South Holland project; the Bacton sand scaping project, for instance, used only 2 million cubic yards of sand.
But around the time these projects were completed the concept got a boost from the World Bank, which is the world’s largest source of funding for climate adaptation projects in developing nations. As part of an almost $500 million adaptation package meant to protect coastal areas in West Africa, the bank funded the construction of a large sand motor in the small nation of Benin, another country that faces an extreme erosion threat.
The coastline of West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea is eroding faster than almost any other place in the world, with severe consequences for a population that is clustered by the water. According to a recent study, almost two-thirds of the region’s coastal settlements face severe economic and health disruptions from sea-level rise — most notably in the Nigerian megacity of Lagos, which sits on a marshland just a few feet above sea level. The World Bank estimates that the impacts of erosion could wipe out as much as 5 percent of the region’s gross domestic product.
Benin is in particularly dire shape: Parts of the country’s shoreline are eroding by as much as 45 feet every year, and miles of beach have vanished since the turn of the century. The erosion has washed out roads, disrupted the livelihoods for local fishermen, and carved up beaches that are major tourist attractions. The national government’s previous efforts to control land loss with concrete sea walls and rock structures didn’t do much to slow down the rate of erosion.
So when the World Bank gave the Beninese government $60 million in 2018 to pursue a raft of erosion solutions, its leaders opted to build a sand motor in a popular beachfront area where erosion has disrupted fishing and tourism. The dredging firm Boskalis built the project last May, vacuuming up more than 8 million cubic yards of sand to build a motor about one-third the size of the original one in the Netherlands.
An aerial shot shows the shape of a ‘sand motor’ project in Benin. The project was built by the dredging firm Boskalis with funding from the World Bank. Courtesy of Boskalis
Because sand motors require so much money, sand, and dredging expertise, most countries can’t pursue them without international help, said Peter Kristensen, an environmental economist at the World Bank who is leading the West Africa erosion initiative. Instead they settle for concrete barriers, rock walls, and smaller nourishment projects, all of which have short lifespans. Sea walls can even speed up erosion in nearby areas by redirecting wave energy toward neighboring sand stretches that don’t have fortifications.
“In the U.S. and other countries, they can afford to replenish often,” said Kristensen. “It’s harder for the African countries to afford that kind of replenishment on a regular basis.”
West African countries have also used money from the World Bank to build rock groins, mangrove forests, and traditional nourishment projects. The bank hopes to monitor all these projects over the coming years to see which are most effective at combating erosion, then scale those solutions for the entire region. If the new sand motor in Benin survives for as long as the Dutch version has, the bank may try to replicate its success with more mega-nourishment projects in other parts of the world.
But this intervention will only work if countries like Benin also try to shift their development away from the water’s edge, according to Rob Young, a professor of geology at Western Carolina University and a leading expert on shoreline erosion.
“The Dutch made two choices,” he said. “One was, ‘We’re going to protect as much of the country from storm surge as we can.’ Number two was, ‘We’re going to get infrastructure out of the lowest lying areas, and we’re not going to build new stuff in stupid places.’”
Kristensen says that moving back from the shoreline might be difficult in the region of Benin with the new sand motor. Homes and beach hotels in the area sit clustered on a narrow strip of land with a river flowing behind it, so it’s not possible to shift development backward.
“It’s not always the case that when you want to do a managed retreat that you have a place to put everything and all the people that you want to move,” he said. But he also said that the World Bank would be willing to fund so-called “managed retreat” policies in other areas of West Africa if national governments wanted to pursue them.
By the same token, Young said, it’s unlikely that the sand motor would be much help in the United States. There are millions of beach homes and high-rise condominium buildings lining the shorelines of states like Florida, and moving this development back from the water would raise a host of political and logistical challenges, not the least being that no one who lives there wants to move.
Furthermore, the beach in places like Miami has eroded so far that only a thin strip of sand protects people from the encroaching ocean, which makes nourishment far more urgent. Beach communities in Florida can’t wait years for the sand from a sand motor to drift toward their beaches — they need constant infusions of sand, year after year, or the water will wipe them out altogether. Plus, the process of erosion is so far advanced in places like South Florida that there may not be enough sand to build a motor: Previous dredging efforts have drained offshore deposits of high-quality sand, leaving only low-quality material that won’t work to replenish beaches.
Young says that all these factors mean that the sand motor will only be useful for countries that can also shift development inland as part of a more comprehensive climate adaptation plan, as the Dutch did.
“In the U.S. we have lots of coastal resort communities where the houses are on the edge of the sea, right now, and we’re scrambling to keep sand in front of them,” he said. “If you look at what is down drift of the sand motor on the coast of Holland, they don’t have buildings teetering on the edge.”
Last July, the normally warm and humid but still pleasant New England summer was disrupted by a series of unusually heavy rain storms. Flash floods broke creek banks and washed away roads, inundating several cities and towns. Vermont and upstate New York in particular saw immense damage. As communities attempted to recover from the havoc, legislators in these states, and several others, asked themselves why taxpayers should have to cover the cost of rebuilding after climate disasters when the fossil fuel industry is at fault.
“There will be no shortage of climate expenses that it would be entirely appropriate for this fund to pay for,” said Ben Edgerly-Walsh, the climate and energy director for the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. “These are not going to be avoidable expenses at the end of the day because of the way the climate crisis is playing out.”
One 2023 poll showed that over 60% of voters nationwide support making polluters pay for the consequences of their actions. Should these bills become law, however, they surely face a long road of legal battles before they are implemented. The American Petroleum Institute, which represents some 600 fossil fuel companies, did not respond to a request for comment.
Still, such efforts have a number of precedents. The most obvious is the 1998 settlement that forced Big Tobacco to provide $206 billion over 25 years to underwrite state public health budgets. Another example is the federal Superfund legislation enacted in 1980 that followed a number of toxic spills that drew national attention to hazardous waste dumps. After intensive advocacy by environmental organizations and frontline communities, Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or CERCLA, which forced those responsible for these messes to clean them up or pay the government to do so.
Vermont and other states hope to replicate that model, said state treasurer Mike Pieciak. The Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program “would basically be an assessment,” on larger oil companies, he said.
Democratic Senators Chris Van Holland of Maryland and Bernie Sanders of Vermont attempted to introduce something like CERCLA for climate change as a part of the federal Build Back Better Act. That didn’t work out, so states picked up the baton. In Vermont, the campaign began just before June’s record flooding. Walsh believes that timing helped garner political support for the effort. The bill is backed by a supermajority in the state Senate and a majority in the House. It’ll soon be sent to committee for further consideration, and could be sent to the governor in April or May.
A 2021 report estimated that the cost of flood damages to homes, public infrastructure, and businesses throughout parts of Vermont could cost the state $5.2 billion during this century. An analysis by the Vermont Atlas of Disaster showed the Green Mountain State ranks fifth per capita in climate spending.
Communities in other states, too, have explored ways to hold fossil fuel accountable for damages, sometimes much more directly. Public health researchers in Kentucky linked deaths in the state’s horrific 2022 floods — which killed more than 40 people — to excessive strip mining that flattened mountaintops and destroyed streams. Beverly May, a retired project manager in the University of Kentucky’s department of public health and epidemiology, tried to send these results to the federal Office of Surface Mining; she never heard back. May also pointed to early attempts by anti-strip mining activists to ensure that taxes paid by coal companies go into a trust fund to ensure cleanup and remediation continues long after the companies move on. Those efforts cratered for lack of political will. “You might as well have opened the window and shouted, ‘Hey, nonny nonny,’ for all the help we got,” May said with a sigh. “In towns all over southwestern Virginia and eastern Kentucky, governments are collapsing because there’s no money they can spend.”
Legislation of the sort being pursued by Vermont and others won’t repair all of the damage wrought by climate change or stop pollution on its own, but such laws could provide remediation funding for communities that don’t have much money to go around. Pat Parentau, a professor emeritus of climate policy at Vermont Law and Graduate School, served on the New England regional council for Superfund when that pioneering legislation was implemented. With his home state now attempting to pass climate legislation modeled after it, he sees both reasons for optimism and instructive lessons.
“It’s one more pressure point to accelerate the transition that is underway,” Parentau said.
But enforcing such measures won’t be easy, even if the bill does pass. Larger states might be able to fight for themselves; Vermont is using a no fault scheme, which means the state wouldn’t have to prove negligence to make companies pay into the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program. Any company engaged in the oil business could be held responsible. The liability is strict: companies at every step of the process, from the drilling and production to the distribution and transportation of fossil fuels, would have to pay up, though companies at the extraction end of things would be prioritized. Parentau pointed out that that could be a weakness of the bill, making it difficult to enforce. And where Superfund created a model to assess responsibility through convening a meeting of all parties involved, that task may be more nebulous when addressing carbon emissions.
“Once you pass it, you’re in it for the long slog,” said Parentau. “I question whether they have the legal resources to go up against the ExxonMobils of the world.”
Ideally, something like this would become federal law, but Parentau says that’s doubtful at this point with the major piece of climate legislation being “mostly carrots.”
It’s hard to hold massive multinational corporations accountable to vulnerable communities, and hard to get the money to the right places once it comes. The Big Tobacco settlement was supposed to bring a public health windfall to cash-strapped counties, but in reality, much of the funding was diverted to other priorities, like roadbuilding, and served more as glue to hold local budgets together than as a source of revenue for health programs. Meanwhile, Parentau said, communities spent ten years litigating the Superfund program, and despite progress, a massive number of sites remain to be cleaned up even decades later. Carbon pollution may prove even more elusive, since it’s atmospheric, it’s diffuse through the air and not concentrated anywhere.
Walsh, though, believes that the potential battles ahead are worthwhile; they set an example. “It’s a fight worth having, because it’s so high stakes,” he said.
*Correction: This story originally misstated the month the flooding in Vermont occurred and did not include Ben Edgerly-Walsh’s full name.
Wetlands exist on every continent except Antarctica.
Wetlands are home to hydrophytes, literally water plants.
Freshwater marshes are the most common and widespread wetlands in North America.
The Sundarbans in India and Bangladesh is a saltwater swamp that boasts the world’s biggest uninterrupted mangrove forest at 140,000 hectares.
Wetlands provide habitat or breeding grounds for 40% of all plant and animal species.
Peatlands cover only around 3% of the Earth’s surface but store around 30% of its soil carbon.
According to one estimate, wetlands are disappearing at three times the rate of forests and are considered the world’s most imperiled ecosystem.
Nearly half of the tidal wetlands along the U.S. coast are vulnerable to sea-level rise by 2100.
In Sackett v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a wetland only had federal protection if its surface waters touched the waters of a navigable body of water.
In the Lower 48 U.S. states, 75% of remaining wetlands are on private land.
What Are ‘Wetlands’?
A wetland is exactly what it sounds like: ground that is covered by or saturated with water for all or part of the year. The water that makes a wetland can come from a variety of different sources, including ocean tides; freshwater sources like lakes, rivers, or ponds; underground aquifers, or rain.
Aerial view of the Everglades Wildlife Management Area Water Conservation Area near Sawgrass Expressway and Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Sept. 5, 2019. Jeff Greenberg / Education Images / Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Wetlands are found on every continent except Antarctica. Some famous examples are the Everglades in Florida, the Pantanal in Brazil and Monadh Mor in Scotland. There is an amazing diversity of wetlands based on how frequently their soils are saturated, the surrounding climate and the source of the water, among other factors. All wetlands have moistened soils that are described as hydric, and these soils nurture water-loving plants, called hydrophytes. Hydrophyte literally comes from the Greek words for “water” and “plant.” These plants can either spend their lives under the water, floating on top of it or submerged in moist soils and range from mangrove trees to duckweed, but they are all adapted to a watery, low-oxygen environment.
A jabiru stork looks for food in a wetland near the Piuval Lodge in the Northern Pantanal, State of Mato Grosso, Brazil on June 12, 2022. Wolfgang Kaehler / LightRocket via Getty Images
In the past, wetlands were often dismissed as waste areas or sources of mosquitoes and disease. Because of this, human societies have often not treated them with the respect they deserve, either filling them in to build cities, draining them for farmland or using them as garbage dumps. However, wetlands are actually vitally important ecosystems that perform essential functions, from purifying water to storing carbon. As human activities like the burning of fossil fuels push the climate toward a tipping point, wetlands are more important than ever.
What Are the Main Types of Wetlands?
There are many different types of wetlands and means of classifying them. Broadly, wetlands can be divided into coastal or tidal wetlands and inland or non-tidal wetlands. In the U.S., different agencies have different systems for classifying wetlands based on factors like geography, vegetation, water source and how the water flows through the landscape. However, according to National Geographic, there are three basic types of wetlands recognized by scientists: marshes, swamps and bogs. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also includes a fourth type: the fen. Other names for wetlands you may be familiar with include mires, muskegs, sloughs, playa lakes, vernal pools, wet meadows, pocosins, lagoons and deltas.
Marshes
A crocodile in a saltwater marsh in Kakadu National Park in Australia’s Northern Territory. rweisswald / iStock / Getty Images Plus
A marsh is a wetland that is frequently or always flooded and where long-stem plants grow in water-saturated soils. They are most common in mid latitudes, and they are divided into tidal or saltwater marshes and non-tidal or freshwater marshes. Tidal or saltwater marshes are often found near estuaries — a biodiverse habitat where a river opens out into the ocean. Typical plants in saltwater marshes include smooth cordgrass close to the tide and short smooth cordgrass, spike grass and saltmeadow rush farther from the shore. Examples are the saltwater marshes of northern Australia — home to the saltwater crocodile — and the salt marshes surrounding Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay.
The Transquaking River feeds into the Fishing Bay salt marsh near Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Dorchester County, Maryland, on June 5, 2018. Will Parson / Chesapeake Bay Program
Freshwater or non-tidal marshes are typically found by rivers, streams or lakes, or in depressions where water can gather. Typical vegetation includes bulrushes, reeds, lilly pads and cattails. Freshwater marshes are the most common and widespread types of wetlands in North America. Examples include much of the Everglades and prairie potholes — depressions left in the ground by melting chunks of glacier that created wetlands as they melted. These are important resting stops for migratory birds.
Swamps
A swamp is a wetland characterized by woody plants. Swamps can be divided into either freshwater and saltwater swamps or forested swamps and shrub swamps. All swamps are home to water-tolerant trees or shrubs, but the species depend on the climate and location. There are many freshwater swamps in the tropics, where it is hot and humid all year, but there are swamps as far north as the boreal forests of Russia, Alaska and Canada. Freshwater swamp plants can range from red maples in the northeastern U.S. to cypress in the U.S. south. Swampy shrubs include willows, button bush and smooth alder. One famous example of a freshwater swamp is the Louisiana bayou.
The Atchafalaya River runs through the Atchafalaya Basin, the largest wetland and swamp in the U.S. in Charenton, Louisiana on Aug. 21, 2019. Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Saltwater swamps are mostly found in the tropics along coastal sand flats or mudflats.The water in saltwater swamps is brackish, meaning it is a mix of salt and freshwater. The trees that typically live in saltwater swamps are called mangroves, which have tall roots that hold their short trunks above water level. Mangroves both attract soil, keep it in place and help create it when they decay. They also provide habitat for marine animals and birds. One example of a saltwater swamp is the Sundarbans in India and Bangladesh, which boasts the world’s biggest uninterrupted mangrove forest at 140,000 hectares. The swamp is home to 260 bird species, the estuarine crocodile, the Indian python and the Bengal tiger.
A Bengal tiger in the mangroves of the Sundarbans in India. Banu R / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Bogs
A bog is a type of wetland that is formed when sphagnum moss and other plants accumulate, either trapping the water from a pre-existing lake or pond or collecting and trapping rain water. Most of the current water in a bog comes from rainwater, not groundwater or another source. Because of the water source and the presence of mosses, bog soil and water is acidic and has less nutrients. This means that bogs are not as fertile and only nurture certain types of plants that therefore only attract certain animals. Carnivorous plants like pitcher plants and sundew are some of the unique plants that favor bogs, while cranberries and blueberries are some of the few crops that can be grown in them. One large animal that does spend time in bogs is the moose, who feeds on aquatic plants. Examples of bogs include the cranberry bogs of Massachusetts and the Great Kemeri Bog in Latvia’s Kemeri National Park.
A cranberry bog in Plymouth, Massachusetts. DenisTangneyJr / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Over time, the plant matter that builds up at the bottom of a bog turns to peat. That means a bog is a type of peatland, or an area where there are 20 to 40 centimeters of peat in the top 80 centimeters of soil. Between 50 and 70% of all wetlands are peatlands. Peat is a fuel in its own right, and can turn into coal with more time and pressure. In addition, bogs are very good at preserving things because of their lack of oxygen and the presence of natural tannins, which are used in preserving leather. Several “bog bodies” — human corpses with hair and clothing — have been found in bogs dating from thousands of years ago, mostly in northern Europe. The most well-preserved “bog body” is Tollund Man, who was found in Denmark’s Bjældskovdal bog in 1950 but lived around 280 B.C.E. He was found wearing a sheepskin hat, an ox-skin belt and skin covering all but his arms and hands.
Fens
Fens are similar to bogs in that they are wetlands that create peat over time. They are also more common in the Northern Hemisphere. However, they are distinct in that they do not rely on rain or snow for their nutrients, instead accessing them via water flowing downhill or through groundwater below. Because of this, they have a broader diversity of plants and animals, including rushes, wildflowers, sedges and grasses.
A juvenile mute swan in Strumpshaw Fen in Norfolk, England. Martin Tosh / iStock / Getty Images Plus
What Are the Benefits of Wetlands?
Wetlands only cover 6% of the Earth’s land area, but they are vitally important for plant and animal life, nutrient and water cycles and human well-being.
Providing Habitat
Zebras and flamingoes in the wetlands of Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Wolfgang Kaehler / LightRocket via Getty Images
Wetlands are very important for biodiversity. About 40% of the Earth’s plants and animals either live or breed in wetlands. In fact, wetlands are on par with coral reefs and tropical rainforests for being some of the world’s most productive ecosystems. This is because they are “biological supermarkets.” Plant matter decays in the water to become detritus, which provides food for insects, small fish and shellfish that then attract larger fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. Wetlands play an important role in the life cycles of several species, including salmon, trout, oysters and blue crabs. Some species live only in wetlands, including more than one-third of those on the U.S. endangered and threatened species list. Many birds rely on wetlands for at least part of the year. They are important pit stops for migrating birds, and some migratory species would go extinct without certain wetlands.
Improving Water Quality
The Binsenberg slope spring bog in Altentreptow, Germany on Jan. 25, 2022. Peatlands function as nutrient filters and contribute not only to climate and species protection, but also to improving water quality. Jens Büttner / picture alliance via Getty Images
Wetlands act as a natural water filtration system, keeping larger bodies of water like rivers and oceans clean. When water enters a wetland, its pace is slowed by the many plants, allowing any sediments within it to become suspended in the wetlands. These sediments, which are often attached to toxic chemicals or nutrient pollution like excess nitrogen or phosphorus from agriculture or wastewater, are then absorbed by plants or settle at the bottom of the wetland. Natural processes can absorb excess nutrients into the wetlands’ nutrient cycle or turn toxic chemicals into less toxic forms. If water passes through a wetland, up to 90% of the sediment within it may be trapped by the wetland, allowing the water to run clear.
Managing Water Flow
Local residents plant mangroves to help protect against flooding in Banda Aceh, Indonesia on July 10, 2017. Jefta Images / Future Publishing via Getty Images
Wetlands can also help prevent or reduce the impact of flooding by absorbing excess water and then letting it enter the surrounding landscape or groundwater at a slower pace. Indeed, one acre of wetland can store up to 1.5 million gallons of excess water. The vegetation in wetlands can slow flood waters as well. While this water storage reduces the severity of floods, it also delays the beginning of droughts during drier periods. On the coasts, wetlands can help protect inland areas from storm surges by absorbing both water and wave energy. Mangroves, for example, can act as a natural storm break. Along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts, where hurricanes are a yearly hazard, wetlands prevent almost $700,000 in storm damage per square mile each year on average.
Sequestering Carbon
Scotland’s Flow Country peatlands, the largest continuous blanket bog in Europe and a major natural carbon sink, in Forsinard, Scotland on Aug. 16, 2023. Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images
Another thing that scientists are learning about wetlands in the context of the climate crisis is that they are natural sinks for carbon dioxide, drawing down around 8.1 million tons of carbon dioxide from the air annually. “All ecosystems store carbon, but wetlands store a lot more than all the rest,” said Michigan Tech School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science professor Rod Chimner. Coastal wetlands may sequester carbon as much as 55 times faster than tropical rainforests. Peatlands are also important carbon sinks — while they only take up around 3% of the Earth’s land area, they store around 30% of its soil carbon.
Supporting Local Economies
Tourists kayak at Qinhu Lake in Taizhou, east China’s Jiangsu Province, where local authorities promote sports tourism in wetlands, on April 27, 2021. Xinhua / Yang Lei via Getty Images
Because they are such productive ecosystems, wetlands can also provide many economic benefits to humans if managed sustainably. In fact, more than one billion people derive their livelihoods from wetlands. For example, many fisheries depend on wetlands to keep their population numbers high, including more than half of the U.S. commercial seafood harvest. Several crops are cultivated in wetlands, such as cranberries, blueberries and wild rice. In addition, wetlands provide opportunities for ecotourism through kayaking, birdwatching and other water-based activities.
Cultural Benefits
While some human societies have dismissed or disparaged wetlands, others have developed close cultural ties with them. The Cajun culture in Louisiana, for example, is intimately tied to life on the bayou. Wetlands have inspired cultural traditions and mythology from all over the world, from crane festivals in Japan to the legend of the kelpie, the Celtic water horse that is sometimes drawn with a mane of bulrushes. Many Indigenous peoples around the world have developed their cultures based on wetlands, and these ecosystems remain important for their spirituality and livelihoods.
Luis Angel Medina, member of the Yaqui Indigenous community and deer dancer, stands in front of the Sauceda Park wetlands during World Wetlands Day to promote wetlands conservation and biodiversity in Hermosillo, Mexico on Feb. 5, 2022. Luis Gutierrez Norte Photo / Getty Images
What Are the Main Threats Facing Wetlands?
Despite their irreplaceable value, wetlands have historically been undervalued by settler or industrial societies, to devastating consequences. In the U.S., more than half of all of the wetlands in the lower 48 states were drained between the 1600s and today. Globally, the Ramsan Convention on Wetlands calculated that 35% of all wetlands have been lost since 1970, and that they are now disappearing at three times the rate of forests, making them the world’s most imperiled type of ecosystem. A 2023 study published in Nature put the extent of global loss at a lower but still significant 21% between 1700 and 2020, with the U.S. taking the lead for greatest wetland loss of any country. While the rate of wetland loss has declined in the U.S. since the 1970s, it still loses around 60,000 acres a year.
A wick drain sticher drills 80 feet below the ground in an area where CalTrans is building a massive four lane freeway bypass, requiring wetlands drainage in the town of Willits in Mendocino County, California on July 19, 2013. Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times
Agriculture
Land-use change is the greatest threat to wetlands both historically and currently, with conversion of wild lands to agricultural lands being the leading cause of wetland loss. Agriculture has degraded more than half of the Wetlands of International Importance. In some cases, wetlands will be drained to be converted to cropland. This can be counterproductive, as wetlands can actually support agriculture if left alone by providing soil nutrients, water for grazing animals and drought prevention, among other benefits. However, livestock grazing can harm wetlands when not properly managed, as the animals may devour plants that help prevent erosion of streambanks and sedimentation of the water.
A drainage ditch draining farmland in former marshes in Hollesley, Suffolk, England. Geography Photos / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Development
Wetlands have also been drained and filled to be turned into human developments. Major cities including London, Venice, New Orleans and New York were all built on wetlands. In the U.S., pressure from development is overtaking agriculture as the leading cause of wetland loss. Converting wetlands into urban areas can worsen flooding because the water-absorbing vegetation is replaced with impervious materials like concrete.
Approximately 875 acres being filled with earth for the construction of a housing colony in the Rakh-e-Arth wetlands in Kashmir, India on Jan. 31, 2011. Yawar Nazir / Getty Images
Dams
The damming of rivers for agriculture or energy can harm wetlands by diverting water away from them. By altering the flow of rivers, these dams can reduce seasonal flooding, causing certain wetlands to shrink and harming the species that depend on them for habitat. One example is the Colorado River Delta, which was once the largest wetland in North America but dwindled over the 20th century as almost 90% of the Colorado River was diverted for households, farms and energy in the U.S. before even reaching Mexico. While the delta has largely dried up, there are now efforts in place to restore it.
The sun sets over wetlands and mudflats at the Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve in Sonora, Mexico on March 22, 2022. Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Pollution
While wetlands are adept at filtering pollutants, sometimes the amount of contaminants that human activities dump into the environment can become too much for them. In addition, as wetlands disappear, this puts more pressure on the remaining wetlands to filter more toxins. Major pollutants that harm wetlands include sediment, fertilizer, human and animal waste, pesticides and heavy metals. These pollutants can then harm the plants and animals in the wetlands. For example, fertilizer pollution can encourage too many plants to grow, which then deprive the remaining wetland plants and animals of oxygen as they die and decay. The rise in plastic pollution is also impacting wetlands, killing birds and turtles. Another recent study found that tire particles are harming organisms in estuaries.
Wetlands contaminated with acid mine drainage at the Kempton abandoned mine complex in Kempton, Maryland on Dec. 19, 2017. Ricky Carioti / The Washington Post via Getty Images
Climate Crisis
The climate crisis threatens coastal wetlands through sea-level rise and coastal erosion, while it exposes others to drought and desertification. For example, 43 to 48% of the tidal wetlands along the U.S. coast are vulnerable to sea-level rise by 2100. Globally, 20 to 90% of coastal wetlands may be swallowed by higher ocean levels. Wetlands in the Arctic and in mountain ecosystems are also especially at risk from climate change as rapid ice melt alters these environments.
Luxury homes built in a swamp in Bishopville, Maryland are threatened by sea-level rise. Joesboy / iStock / Getty Images Plus
What Is Sackett v. EPA and How Does It Impact Wetlands?
One recent impediment to the protection of wetlands in the U.S. is the Supreme Court decision Sackett v. EPA. This decision, ruled in 2023, involved what counts as part of the “waters of the United States” that the federal government is authorized to protect under the Clean Water Act of 1972. For most of the act’s history, waters of the United States, or WOTUS, have been interpreted to mean any body of water in a given watershed. In Sackett v. EPA, however, the court ruled that only navigable waters, streams leading directly to navigable waters or wetlands directly connected via surface water to navigable waters merit federal protections. This puts many wetlands that may be connected to a larger river via groundwater, vegetation or downhill flow at risk from development.
How Can We Protect Wetlands?
Despite the many threats to wetlands, there is growing awareness of their ecological importance as well as a growing movement to both save existing wetlands and restore degraded ones.
Preservation
There are many ways to preserve wetlands on the global, national, local and individual level. The Convention on Wetlands is an international treaty aimed at the conservation and “wise use” of wetlands. It was adopted in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, and today nearly 90% of UN member states are “contracting parties.” The internationally recognized goal of protecting 30% of lands and waters by 2030 can also be an opportunity to protect wetland ecosystems. One recent example is the protection in 2022 of Argentina’s Mitre Peninsula, which included one of South America’s largest peatlands.
In the Lower 48 U.S, nearly 75% of wetlands are on private land, so it is vital that people with wetlands on their property act as stewards. Individuals who care about wetlands can lobby for national, state, or local laws that protect wetlands; volunteer or donate money to organizations that preserve wetlands; oppose developments that would harm or fill wetlands; and reduce the runoff of pollution into wetlands by installing rain barrels and permeable surfaces in their yards and avoiding pesticides and nutrient-rich fertilizers.
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, in partnership with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, worked with private landowners on the habitat for the Oregon chub on a Wetlands Reserve Program site known as the Dunn Pond. The program allows landowners to voluntarily restore and protect wetlands. NRCS Oregon / Flickr
Restoration
It is also possible to restore wetlands that have been damaged or degraded. This can happen through both re-establishing the wetland environment and rehabilitating the function of the ecosystem. In the U.S., wetland restoration is sometimes required by law to offset the permitted destruction of or damage to a wetland for a particular project.
There are many examples of wetland restoration projects. One example is the concept of “sponge cities” in China. Urban planners are replacing concrete flood walls or river banks with plants and parks to help prevent floods and restore urban wetlands. Another example is the effort to bring water flow back to the Colorado River Delta. A 2018 study of these efforts found that restored areas attracted 74% more birds and 20% more bird species than areas that were not.
Qian’an City of north China’s Hebei Province, an example of sponge city construction, on Aug. 1, 2021. Mu Yu / Xinhua via Getty Images
Takeaway
Bortir Bill, a vast wetland surrounded by farmlands famous for jute cultivation in Barasat, West Bengal, India on Sept. 3, 2022. Avishek Das / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
Wetlands are unique and valuable ecosystems that provide tremendous benefits for both non-human and human life — if humans can learn to appreciate them. In the past few centuries of industrial development, human societies have often worked against wetlands, seeing them as obstacles to growing food or building settlements. This attitude has harmed both wetlands and humans, leading, for example, to dwindling fisheries and cities that flood more regularly and intensely.
But if human societies can learn to once again work with wetlands, these amazing marshes, swamps, bogs and fens can help to protect against storms, reduce flooding, restore biodiversity, fight the climate crisis and make the world a little more extraordinary.
A hippopotamus and egret in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Wirestock / iStock / Getty Images Plus
A first-of-its-kind study by researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) has found that older elephants will have less chance of survival as the climate warms, and this will reverberate throughout the surrounding landscape.
The research team has developed models for potential mitigation scenarios, which have already begun to be implemented by WCS, a press release from UMass Amherst said.
“We found that the older elephants will be massively affected by warming under every scenario,” said lead author of the study Simon Nampindo, WCS Uganda’s country director, in the press release.
The Greater Virunga Landscape (GVL) of Africa is a 6,062-square-mile region of mountains, lakes and savannas in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The land — home to Africa’s largest land animals — is 88 percent protected and contains three wildlife reserves, three tropical high-forest preserves and seven national parks. Three of the conservation areas are world heritage sites.
The African elephant population living in this collection of nature reserves has experienced such a decline in the last century that its members are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List as a critically endangered species.
“Elephants are matriarchal — their leaders are the older cows, and the herds depend on their wisdom, long memories and ability to outsmart prey, and if they are lost to changing climate, it will wreak havoc on the surviving, younger herds, as well as change the genetic profiles and structures of the herd. There will also be ripple effects through the GVL’s landscape,” Nampindo said.
Elephants are considered important ecosystem engineers because the way they modify their habitats helps to sustain the landscape. They uproot trees, which then become habitat for thousands of insects and small mammals, disperse seeds from the plants they eat and enrich soil with their dung. They are also culturally important to many Africans.
Not many studies have taken an in-depth look into the interplay between elephant demography, climate change, the environment and how these gentle, intelligent mammals are influenced by their changing habitat over long periods of time.
In order to get a more comprehensive idea of what the future has in store for elephants and what can be done to best safeguard them, Nampindo and Timothy Randhir, a UMass Amherst professor of environmental conservation, put together a systems dynamic model.
“This model can look at all the different environmental and population dynamics within a system. For the first time, we’re able to get a comprehensive vision of what the future might look like for African elephants in the face of climate change,” Nampindo said.
The study, “Dynamic modeling of African elephant populations under changing climate and habitat loss across the Greater Virunga Landscape,” was published in the journal PLOS Sustainability and Transformation.
To build their model, Randhir and Nampindo used data on historical landscape changes, elephant numbers and various future climate change scenarios with warming of 1.6 degrees, 2.8 degrees and 4.3 degrees Celsius over the course of the next eight decades. Then they charted each climate scenario’s effect on five different age ranges: less than 10 years old; 11 to 30; 31 to 40; 41 to 50; and more than 50.
“[A]ny impact on one age class has a community effect throughout the entire population. But this model not only tells us what the threats are, we can also use it to tell us which policy possibilities will be most effective in helping African elephants to survive,” Randhir said in the press release.
Because elephants have such a wide range that can cross national boundaries, understanding how different policies may affect future herds is important so that responses can be coordinated by management agencies.
Randhir and Nampindo found that a locally, regionally and nationally coordinated GVL management plan is necessary to address threats from poaching. They emphasized the importance of education and programs led by communities in villages and towns where interactions between humans and elephants is common, in addition to well-funded anti-poaching strategies.
“These results are very important to WCS,” Nampindo said. “If we can do a good job at protecting elephants, our efforts will reverberate to other species, such as lions and mountain gorillas.”
The landscape of the GVL itself also requires proper management to reduce fires, habitat fragmentation and invasive species.“ More broadly, the most exciting thing about this systems dynamic modeling is that it can be adapted to any migratory species that move across political boundaries, from fish to birds to lions,” Randhir added.
The White House has confirmed President Joe Biden’s selection of clean energy adviser John Podesta to succeed John Kerry as the president’s senior advisor for international climate policy.
Podesta, 75, is currently in charge of a team implementing Biden’s landmark climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act. He formerly served as an adviser to Barack Obama and as Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, reported Reuters.
Earlier this year, Kerry — former secretary of state and senator from Massachusetts — announced he was stepping down in order to help with Biden’s reelection campaign.
“President Biden’s appointment of John Podesta to continue to lead our global climate efforts demonstrates the President’s steadfast commitment to tackling the climate crisis – and reflects his belief that we have not a moment to lose,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a press release from the White House. “John’s efforts and experience will be critical as countries around the world develop their next round of enhanced emissions targets, which are due early next year, as well as work to build out the global clean energy supply chains necessary for achieving our shared climate goals.”
President Joe Biden talks with John Podesta, senior advisor for clean energy innovation, aboard Air Force One on July 6, 2023, en route to a solar technology company in West Columbia, South Carolina as part of his “Investing in America” tour. Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz
Podesta’s relationships with climate diplomats in China, as well as his decades of political experience, will be beneficial in the new role.
“Secretary Kerry has put the U.S. back in leadership on climate around the world,” Podesta told the Washington Post. “And we’ll ensure that we keep up the momentum that has been built up through his efforts.”
Podesta was a key figure — along with former climate envoys Todd Stern and Kerry — in negotiating the first U.S.-China bilateral climate change accord in 2014, Reuters reported. The deal has been credited with laying the foundations for the Paris Agreement the following year.
“In three years, Secretary Kerry has tirelessly trekked around the world, bringing American climate leadership back from the brink and marshaling countries around the world to take historic action to confront the climate crisis,” said Jeffrey Zients, current White House chief of staff, in a statement, as reported by The New York Times. “We need to keep meeting the gravity of this moment, and there is no one better than John Podesta to make sure we do.”
Environmental groups applauded the decision to appoint Podesta.
“John Podesta is uniquely qualified to lead the nation’s climate diplomacy in this critical moment,” said Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), in a press release from NRDC. “The climate crisis lies at the root of cascading disasters inflicting rising costs and mounting dangers across every corner of the world. It’s a humanitarian crisis, an economic crisis, a security crisis. It’s a crisis of global injustice. John Podesta has the skills, knowledge and dedication to tackle these intersecting crises with the urgency they demand.”
Jean Su, energy justice director with the Center for Biological Diversity, emphasized the immediate need for action to stop the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis.
“Podesta needs to take the baton from Kerry and lead the U.S. on a furious sprint to end oil and gas expansion while we still have time to prevent the worst climate catastrophes,” Su said, as Reuters reported.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch has added three new alert levels to track potential risks to coral reefs and other marine life following the hottest year on record.
Previously, Coral Reef Watch’s Bleaching Alert Area product stopped at a Bleaching Alert Level 2, which warned of a “risk of reef-wide bleaching with mortality of heat-sensitive corals.” Now, the product features a Bleaching Alert Level 3, Alert Level 4 and Alert Level 5 to account for additional heat stress risks.
Bleaching Alert Level 3 is linked to a risk of death for multiple species. Level 4 refers to risk of severe multi-species mortality and the now highest alert, level 5, refers to a risk of near-complete mortality, or losing over 80% of corals.
The alert levels also reference DHW, or degree heating weeks. As NOAA explained, this metric measures how long the ocean temperatures remained above a bleaching threshold. The former Bleaching Alert Level product gave the highest alert, level 2, for areas with 8 or more DHWs.
The updated alerts range from 8 to 12 DHWs for a level 2; 12 to 16 DHWs for level 3; 16 to 20 DHWs for level 4; and over 20 DHWs for level 5.
“We started to ask what this meant for the ecosystems at these extreme levels. Did reef managers need more information for when things got so extreme? Our old product was missing all that information and it wasn’t reflecting just how extreme it was getting,” Derek Manzello, director of Coral Reef Watch, told The Guardian. “We know that coral mortality starts at about eight degree heating weeks and we know that now things are getting catastrophic — greater than 20 degree heating weeks. When you exceed a DHW value of 20 it is analogous to a Category Five cyclone, with unbelievably severe, drastic damage. It’s the worst case scenario.”
The Bleaching Alert Area global map for January 31, 2024 has already shown parts of the world’s oceans under heat stress, including some parts listed under the newly added Bleaching Alert Levels 4 and 5.
A NOAA- and the University of Queensland-led study published in 2023 found that marine heatwaves were having severe impacts on coral, leading to not just bleaching events but rapid deaths from acute heat shock.
Bleaching is already detrimental to coral reefs and marine ecosystems. While bleaching can lead to death of corals, they do have the chance to recover. But the updated Bleaching Alert Area product and the recent coral reef study reveal that extreme heat may kill off corals before they even begin showing signs of bleaching.
“What this new system shows is that ocean temperatures and the risks to coral reefs are literally off the charts,” said Rickard Leck, head of oceans for World Wildlife Fund-Australia, as reported by The Guardian. “It’s also an incredibly powerful reminder that global heating is impacting our oceans in the here and now in ways unimaginable only a decade ago.”
