A new comprehensive platform brings together tools and resources for scientists, policymakers and journalists to link biodiversity and climate action
Animating the Carbon Cycle (ACC) is an emerging field of science and policy, producing rigorous, peer-reviewed evidence to show how nature recovery is a credible, rapid and cost-efficient solution to address both the climate and biodiversity crises!
The ACC website (animatingcarbon.earth) is a comprehensive and regularly updated platform dedicated to providing the tools, resources, and practical guides for key stakeholders.
Nature restoration and rewilding has the transformative power to absorb billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide. ACC offers a visionary roadmap to restore healthy ecosystems while addressing the urgent need to restore balance to the carbon cycle.
Wild Animals: The Key to Carbon Sequestration
Wild animals have long been the unsung heroes of carbon storage, ecosystem services and nature recovery.
“Animals are not passengers on the ill-fated voyage of climate change, they are drivers of the ship of climate and biodiversity conservation”, explains Oswald Schmitz of Yale School of Environment, co-author to some of the key ACC papers and who leads the Yale/GRA model.
Wild animals provide natural climate solutions by:
- Protecting already stored carbon in nature, preventing it from escaping into the atmosphere
- Enabling functional ecosystems to drawdown and store carbon through their presence, behaviour and interactions
Our ACC research identifies that protecting and restoring just nine key species can enable the drawdown of vast amounts of carbon, collectively capturing over 6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually – more than the IPCC’s top five mitigation measures combined, yet not mentioned!
Photo credit: Dypics from Getty Images – Elkhorn Slough, California, USA.
Sea otters, like other apex predators such as wolves, function at the top of the food chain, causing trophic cascades that affect the flow and storage of atmospheric carbon. One of their main prey species is the sea urchin – a spiky, globular echinoderm that can rapidly sweep across the seabed and consume entire forests of kelp. By keeping urchin populations in check, sea otters allow such forests to flourish and lock up more carbon. Actually, kelp forests guarded by sea otters can absorb 12 times more CO2 than unguarded forests. Learn more about the impact that sea otters and other climate heroes are having on our ecosystems.
“Nature is a proven technology!”, Schmitz says. This research is already being applied to multiple rewilding landscapes and seascapes worldwide, through the Yale/GRA ACC model, which quantifies the positive climate impact of protecting wildlife populations and allowing them to recover through rewilding.
The first results are already taking the world by storm! The reintroduction of a herd of just 170 European Bison, through their grazing, trampling, and seed dispersal in an area of 48 km2 of grasslands in a wider landscape of 300 km2, help to capture and store approximately an additional 54,000 tonnes of carbon per year, nearly 10 times more than without the bison.
A Major Policy Option to achieve both NDCs and NBSAPs
Restoring wildlife populations to significant, near-historic levels is a nature-based solution that addresses both our climate and biodiversity emergencies. This makes it a groundbreaking advancement for policymaking.
We call for parties to the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Convention on Biological Diversity to integrate the restoration and protection of wild animals as a key component to their national policy decisions, helping to fulfil their NDCs and NBSAPs at the same time.
The benefits of ACC in policy:
- Immediate and scalable solution with long-term impact
- Cost efficient & economic benefits
- Multi-crisis approach
Our partner, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), has released a set of Wildlife Guidelines for NDCs, a comprehensive toolkit to support key stakeholders in aligning their national climate strategies with biodiversity goals, while also supporting economic development and climate resilience. This tool is amongst many now stored in our resource library on the site.
“This research opens up a whole new raft of options for climate policymakers around the world” says Magnus Sylvén, Director of Science-Policy-Practice at the Global Rewilding Alliance and a co-author of key ACC papers, “Until now, nature protection and restoration has largely been treated as another challenge and cost that we need to face alongside the climate emergency. This research shows we can address both challenges: we can bring back nature through rewilding and this will draw down vast amounts of carbon, helping to stabilise the global climate.”
A Credible Climate Solution
Supercharging ecosystem carbon sinks and additional drawdown helps us to meet the 1.5°C climate target.
The website comes at a pivotal moment as governments, businesses, and communities seek sustainable and equitable climate solutions. The platform underscores that the answers lie not in technological fixes alone but in rewilding the intricate systems that have regulated our planet for millennia. We must partner with nature.
“We invite everyone to explore this resource and join us in animating carbon—through science, policy, and action,” Karl Wagner, Managing Director of the Global Rewilding Alliance adds.
Visit AnimatingCarbon.earth
Discover practical examples, evidence-based insights, and tools for stakeholders to take forward – the initiative aims to inspire a global movement to restore the planet’s natural balance. Scientists, policy makers, practitioners, journalists, climate activists…. Join the movement!
Meet your climate heroes and discover the impact this groundbreaking study already has around the world…
Visit the website: www.animatingcarbon.earth
Celebrating collaboration
This initiative is led by a partnership between the Global Rewilding Alliance and Yale School of the Environment. The work would not have been possible without our Rewilding Champions.
A great thank you to:
Re:wild, Biophilia Foundation, Rewilding Europe, Rewilding Chile, International Fund for Animal Welfare, André Hoffmann, and Ben Goldsmith. We also want to thank One Earth and the WILD Foundation for helping us get started on his important initiative.
Howling wolves in Norway. Photo credit: Bjarne Henning Kvaale from Getty Images.
You Can Help Us Share the Howl!
Share these stories to amplify the message of wildlife’s key role in addressing the interconnected climate and biodiversity crises.
We’ve created a series of downloadable designs highlighting these key animals and their role in tackling the climate crisis. From Whales to Wolves, Bison to Beaver, Dingos to Dung Beetles, all have transformative roles in enriching ecosystems and helping to store carbon; these visuals showcase the inspiring connections between wildlife and climate recovery.
It is easy to underestimate the influence we all have. Sharing these stories is a simple but impactful way to raise awareness about the interconnectedness of biodiversity and climate action.
- Download and Share: Choose your favourite Climate Hero design and share it on your social media or in your community.
- Tag Us: Be sure to tag @GlobalRewildingAlliance and Yale School of the Environment
- Use the hashtag: #AnimatingCarbon so we can amplify your post.
Every share helps inspire action and brings us closer to a world where wildlife and nature are celebrated as solutions to the climate crisis. Download Now – let’s share the howl together!