Bionic Planet: Reversing Climate Change by Restoring Nature

In episode 104 of Bionic Planet, I delve into the intricacies of carbon finance with my guest, David Antonioli. We explore the concept of transformational finance, where carbon payments are used to catalyze sustainable practices that can eventually stand on their own. We discuss the limitations of the current additionality tool, which focuses on individual project assessments, and the need for a more holistic approach to drive long-term sector-wide transitions. David Antonioli, with his extensive experience in climate change and carbon markets, shares insights on the need for a paradigm shift in carbon finance. He emphasizes the importance of designing the system to address what happens when carbon finance ends and the necessity of building a foundation for the future of sustainable practices. We touch upon real-world examples, such as projects in Paraguay shifting from cattle ranching to sustainable timber harvesting, to illustrate the challenges of individual project assessments and the potential for sector-wide transformations. We discuss the need for thoughtful simplifications in research and understanding market dynamics to identify positive tipping points that can lead to sustainable transitions. Furthermore, we highlight the positive list approach adopted by organizations like the Climate Action Reserve and the California Resources Board, which use standardized methods to define additional activities upfront. This approach streamlines the process and sets a clear path for achieving long-term sustainability goals. Overall, the episode delves into the complexities of carbon finance, the importance of explicit transformational strategies, and the potential for sector-wide transitions to drive sustainable practices in the future. Timestamps 00:00:00 - Introduction to Transformational Finance 00:05:30 - Challenges in Carbon Accounting 00:10:39 - Critique of Additionality Concept 00:14:39 - Importance of Holistic Understanding 00:17:27 - Need for Interlocking Solutions 00:20:36 - Overhauling Local Economies 00:23:15 - Implicit vs. Explicit Transformation 00:27:06 - Addressing Entrenched Interests 00:33:43 - Proposal for Sector-Wide Transformation 00:38:02 - Limitations of Current Additionality Tools 00:42:24 - Focus on Sector-Wide Transformation 00:45:06 - Procedures for Overhauling Local Economies Quotes "We know that the enemy is carbon, and we know its ugly face. We should put a big fat price on it, and of course, add to that, drop the subsidies." - 00:00:20 "Everything else is a bonus, a positive externality that critics of carbon finance choose to ignore." - 00:01:42 "We're missing the forest for the trees." - 00:14:15 "We're so focused on every single little branch that we've lost what the bigger opportunity is." - 00:44:22 "We're so in the weeds of the detail." - 00:44:32 "We're so focused on every single little branch that we've lost what the bigger opportunity is." - 00:44:22 "We're so in the weeds of the detail." - 00:44:32 "We're so focused on every single little branch that we've lost what the bigger opportunity is." - 00:44:22 "We're so in the weeds of the detail." - 00:44:32 "We're so focused on every single little branch that we've lost what the bigger opportunity is." - 00:44:22

In Episode 103 of Bionic Planet, titled "Purists, Pragmatists, and the Science-Based Targets Initiative," we delve into the complex world of emission reduction targets and the challenges companies face to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The episode explores the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTI), a program designed to assist companies in setting emission reduction targets aligned to achieve net zero emissions. The episode begins by highlighting the significant increase in companies committing to SBTI since January 2023, with many not submitting their plans until January 2025. We learn about the distinction between purists and pragmatists in the climate realm. Purists advocate for the complete elimination of fossil fuels in value chains, while pragmatists emphasize the use of offsets to achieve emission reductions. Guest speaker Jen Jenkins, Chief Science Officer at Rubicon Carbon, provides valuable insights into the challenges faced by companies in reducing emissions and the balance between pragmatism and purity. Jenkins discusses the importance of understanding a company's value chain, the complexities of emission reduction strategies, and the role of offsets in achieving carbon neutrality. The episode delves into the debate surrounding the use of offsets in emission reduction strategies, focusing on the conflicting perspectives of purists and pragmatists. Jenkins emphasizes the need for flexibility and practicality in climate action, highlighting the importance of using the available tools to address the climate crisis effectively. As the discussion unfolds, the episode touches on the need for clear guidelines and standards in emission reduction efforts, the role of the voluntary carbon market in conservation efforts, and the challenges of balancing purity with practicality in climate action. Jenkins and the host explore the complexities of achieving net zero emissions and the importance of finding a middle ground between purist ideals and pragmatic solutions. The episode concludes with a call to action for companies to engage in emission reduction efforts, highlighting the significance of the voluntary carbon market in driving climate action. Jenkins' insights shed light on the complexities of emission reduction strategies and the importance of practical approaches in addressing the climate crisis. Join us in exploring the dynamic landscape of emission reduction targets, the role of offsets in climate action, and the ongoing debate between purists and pragmatists in pursuing a sustainable future on Bionic Planet. Timestamps Introduction to SBTI: 00:00:09-00:00:19 Interface Carpets Case Study: 00:00:23-00:00:33 Dependence on Fossil Fuels: 00:01:22-00:01:32 Global Emission Reduction Targets: 00:01:43-00:02:04 Pragmatic Approach to Emission Reduction: 00:02:24-00:02:34 Scope 3 Emissions and SBTI Controversy: 00:02:45-00:03:07 Purists vs. Pragmatists: 00:03:36-00:03:48 Jen Jenkins Background and Role: 00:05:52-00:06:03 Transition to Private Sector: 00:07:39-00:07:50 Jenkins Equations and Carbon Stock Estimation: 00:09:56-00:10:07 Net Zero vs. Carbon Neutral: 00:11:23-00:11:34 Challenges in Emission Reduction Planning: 00:13:38-00:13:49 Renewable Energy Options: 00:16:47-00:16:57 Customized Emission Reduction Plan: 00:17:39-00:17:50 Carbon Neutrality by 2030: 00:18:18-00:18:28 Carbon Neutral vs. Net Zero: 00:32:18-00:32:29 Purity vs. Pragmatism in Climate Action: 00:36:24-00:36:34 Role of Voluntary Carbon Market: 00:38:33-00:38:43 Quotes "The purist approach would say, no, no, I need to hold everybody's feet to the fire and ensure that no matter how much it costs, ensure that these companies sort of suss out every single source of fossil fuel in their value chain and obliterate it immediately." - (00:03:48-00:03:58) "But we can restore it, make it better, greener, more resilient, more sustainable. But how? Technology? Geoengineering? Are we doomed to live on a bionic planet, or is nature herself the answer?" - (00:04:50-00:05:00) "The purists have just been better at communicating. Because pragmatism is about probabilities, uncertainties. Science itself is not about absolutes. It's about finding the concurrent views of most experts." - (00:36:34-00:36:45) "We kind of need to use the tools we have, we need to address the problem with what we've got at hand. And I think that's a very pragmatic look at the problem." - (00:37:56-00:38:06) "If you do take a purist view, especially in an environment in a market that is voluntary, you're not going to get the action you need." - (00:38:16-00:38:27) "The atmosphere is well mixed, we need to reduce emissions globally." - (00:30:58-00:31:09) "The voluntary carbon market right now in the near term is a fantastic way to help conserve those existing forests so that we retain both their carbon stocks and the important biodiversity." - (00:32:07-00:32:17) "The U.S. government earlier this week made a strong show of support for the voluntary carbon market." - (00:34:30-00:34:40) "We all want to get there. We're all motivated to get to net zero. But a pragmatic approach would say, look, if you're in an industry where the next least costly abatement action is going to cost you more than it would cost to purchase an offset, then you should go ahead and buy the offset." - (00:30:05-00:30:15) "We need to reduce emissions globally. The purest approach would say, no, no, I need to hold everybody's feet to the fire and ensure that no matter how much it costs, ensure that these companies sort of suss out every single source of fossil fuel in their value chain and obliterate it immediately." - (00:31:20-00:31:33)

In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Robert Gilmore Pontius, Jr., a geography professor at Clark University specializing in geographic information science. Dr. Pontius shared his expertise in computer simulation models of deforestation and the impact of land change on humans. Dr. Pontius discussed his journey into the field of geography, highlighting his passion for mathematics and maps. He emphasized the importance of simplicity in modeling and the need to eliminate distractions to focus on the essence of the problem. The conversation delved into the complexities of land change modeling, addressing the challenges of uncertainty and the balance between simplicity and complexity in predictive models. Dr. Pontius emphasized the importance of transparency in modeling and the need to acknowledge and learn from mistakes in scientific research. The discussion also touched on the evolution of methodologies in land change modeling, with Dr. Pontius advocating for a continuous learning process and adaptation based on new scientific insights. He highlighted the importance of open communication and collaboration in maximizing learning and addressing challenges in the field. Overall, the episode provided valuable insights into the world of geographic information science, emphasizing the need for continuous improvement, transparency, and open dialogue in scientific research and modeling practices. Dr. Pontius's expertise and passion for the subject shone through, making for an engaging and enlightening conversation.   "I do this because I enjoy it. And I feel completely comfortable with saying that, because if you don't enjoy it, you're not going to dedicate time to it." - 00:04:52-00:05:02 "What good scientists do, they learn from their mistakes, and they admit them, and they say what their motivation was at the time, and then they clarify it and present something better." - 00:12:49-00:13:00 "I wanted to give an example to the research community because I see variation even among professors in their motivations." - 00:13:00-00:13:12 "We're not in the business of trying to say that we've solved all the problems. That's not what good scientists do." - 00:14:51-00:15:01 "I'm not willing to take on a student unless that student is willing to tell me when they think I'm wrong." - 00:29:23-00:29:33 "Mathematicians are always trying to eliminate distractions, get to the essence of something, and make it as simple and transparent as possible." - 00:48:07-00:48:17 "It's trivial to choose to look at something in such detail that it's impossible to predict accurately. Easy to do." - 00:50:07-00:50:18 "If we're doing the same thing we were doing 30 years ago, it means either 30 years ago we were so brilliant that we knew everything, or if we're doing the same thing we were doing 30 years ago, that means we haven't learned anything in 30 years." - 00:55:18-00:55:28 "Learning is not guaranteed. Just look around the world today. I mean, things can go backward." - 00:55:29-00:55:39 "Is capitalism or communism good or bad? It depends how it's implemented. Is religion good or bad? It depends how it's implemented." - 00:56:55-00:57:05

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/bionicplanet Two weeks ago, climate pioneer Interface Inc announced they would become carbon-negative across all their operations by 2040, enabling them to move beyond the use of carbon credits. Some people heralded this as a sign that the days of offsetting emissions are over, but that’s not exactly true – at least not yet. Most companies aren't as far along on their climate journeys as Interface is, and we still need offsets to accelerate reductions in the next decade. The fact is a company's decision to offset or not depends on its unique circumstances. In this episode of Bionic Planet, we delve into the remarkable journey of Interface, Inc., a flooring tile manufacturer that has been at the forefront of climate action since CEO Ray Anderson (pictured) the 1990s. The episode explores how Interface's early efforts to offset emissions paved the way for their groundbreaking carbon-negative carpet line, which absorbs more greenhouse gas than it emits over its lifecycle. We replay a 2021 interview with Buddy Hay, the industrial engineer who played a pivotal role in quantifying Interface's emissions, and we detail the company's transition to offsetting, the challenges they faced in measuring and reducing their carbon footprint, and the evolution of the voluntary carbon market, the role of verification and validation in offsetting, and the importance of natural climate solutions -- as well as how the company used offsets the right way: to reduce emissions in the present while developing technologies that enabled it to move beyond offsetting in the future. Related Link: https://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/articles/interface-making-carpets-cool/

Become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/bionicplanet In Episode 100 of Bionic Planet, part of the Tribes of the Climate Realm vertical, we delve into the origins of the voluntary carbon market -- a story that has never been told before. Today's show is the first of many offering a truer, completer, and more accurate glimpse into the origins of the Voluntary Carbon Market than you've probably ever heard before. The episode draws on a 2022 discussion with environmental economists Marc Stuart and Mark Kenber, who were instrumental in creating the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) in 2005 to meet two core objectives: first, to accelerate emission reductions in the wake of failed government policy and, second, to test new approaches to meeting the climate challenge. We offer a brief history of climate negotiations leading up to 2005 and the exclusion of forest protection and sustainable farming from the Kyoto Protocol and the Marrakesh Accords. The discussion touches on the complexities of integrating these crucial elements into the market, emphasizing the importance of balancing environmental integrity with development-focused activities. Join me, Steve Zwick, in this insightful journey through the history and evolution of the voluntary carbon market, as we strive to create a more sustainable future for our planet. Thank you for tuning in to Episode 100 of Bionic Planet. Related Links 049 | Forests in the Paris Climate Agreement, Part 1: The Birth of Forest Carbon https://bionic-planet.com/podcast-episode/049-forests-in-the-paris-climate-agreement-part-1-the-birth-of-forest-carbon/  064 | Race to Zero: Meet the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon https://bionic-planet.com/podcast-episode/064-race-to-zero-meet-the-taskforce-on-scaling-voluntary-carbon/  75 l Coverage of Climate Solutions Suffer the Same Fate as Coverage of Climate Science? https://bionic-planet.com/podcast-episode/75-l-coverage-of-climate-solutions-suffer-the-same-fate-as-coverage-of-climate-science/   Timestamps Introduction to the History of the Voluntary Carbon Market The Origins of the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) The Role of Carbon Markets in Addressing Climate Change The Failure of Governments to Address Climate Change The Evolution of Voluntary Carbon Standards The Importance of Ending Deforestation The Emergence of Voluntary Carbon Markets in the 1980s The Kyoto Protocol and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) The Exclusion of Forest Protection from the Kyoto Protocol The Creation of the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) Challenges in Implementing Standards for Forest Protection The Need for Unified Rules in Carbon Markets The Involvement of NGOs, Businesses, and Organizations in Developing Standards The Controversy Surrounding Inclusion of Forest Conservation The Importance of Addressing Permanence and Fungibility The Collaboration Between NGOs and Businesses in Developing Standards The Importance of Including Forest Conservation in Carbon Markets The Role of NGOs in Advocating for Inclusion of Forest Conservation The Significance of Learning from Past Lessons Call to Action for Support and Sponsorship

Support Bionic Planet at patreon.com/bionicplanet In Episode 99 of Bionic Planet, recorded in Mombasa, Kenya, the focus is on the efforts to revive the coastal mangrove forests that protect the seaside city and support its fishing sector. The episode features guests from the community-based organization, Big Ship, who have been working on mangrove conservation for 15 years. The episode delves into the challenges faced in persuading communities to understand the importance of conserving mangroves and the innovative financing mechanisms used by Big Ship to fund their restoration efforts. The guests discuss the crucial role mangroves play in carbon sequestration, coastal protection, and supporting marine life. The conversation highlights the Adopt-a-Site model employed by Big Ship, where degraded mangrove areas are identified, restored, and monitored over time. The guests emphasize the importance of engaging with the community, government institutions, and partners to ensure the sustainability of mangrove restoration projects. The episode also explores the impact of youth involvement in mangrove conservation and the promotion of ecotourism as a sustainable income source for coastal communities. The guests share their experiences with the VIM program, which focuses on career mentorship and skill development for the youth. Overall, the episode showcases the multi-faceted approach taken by Big Ship to address the challenges of mangrove conservation, promote community engagement, and create alternative livelihoods for coastal residents. The guests' insights shed light on the importance of cultural preservation, environmental awareness, and long-term sustainability in mangrove restoration efforts. Listeners are encouraged to support the podcast by leaving a five-star review and considering becoming a patron to help fund future episodes that aim to educate and inspire action in climate and biodiversity conservation finance. Timestamps In Episode 99 of Bionic Planet, recorded in Mombasa, Kenya, the focus is on the efforts to revive the coastal mangrove forests that protect the seaside city and support its fishing sector. The episode features guests from the community-based organization, Big Ship, who have been working on mangrove conservation for 15 years. The episode delves into the challenges faced in persuading communities to understand the importance of conserving mangroves and the innovative financing mechanisms used by Big Ship to fund their restoration efforts. The guests discuss the crucial role mangroves play in carbon sequestration, coastal protection, and supporting marine life. The conversation highlights the Adopt-a-Site model employed by Big Ship, where degraded mangrove areas are identified, restored, and monitored over time. The guests emphasize the importance of engaging with the community, government institutions, and partners to ensure the sustainability of mangrove restoration projects. The episode also explores the impact of youth involvement in mangrove conservation and the promotion of ecotourism as a sustainable income source for coastal communities. The guests share their experiences with the VIM program, which focuses on career mentorship and skill development for the youth. Overall, the episode showcases the multi-faceted approach taken by Big Ship to address the challenges of mangrove conservation, promote community engagement, and create alternative livelihoods for coastal residents. The guests' insights shed light on the importance of cultural preservation, environmental awareness, and long-term sustainability in mangrove restoration efforts. Timestamps 00:00:00 - Introduction to Big Ship Organization in Mombasa, Kenya 00:05:30 - Overview of Big Ship's Thematic Areas and Programs 00:10:27 - The Adopt-a-Site Model for Mangrove Restoration 00:15:01 - The Impact of the VIM Program on Youth Participants 00:21:09 - Discussion on Carbon Finance and Alternative Financing Mechanisms 00:25:24 - Challenges Faced in Spreading Awareness and Engaging Communities 00:29:07 - Youth Awareness and Engagement in Mangrove Conservation 00:32:45 - Community Entry Strategy for Restoration Efforts 00:36:51 - Project Areas and Viability of Investments 00:37:48 - Youth Training and Ecotourism Program Promotion 00:40:13 - Cultural Adaptation and Appreciation in Coastal Communities 00:40:42 - Closing Remarks and Call to Action  Quotes "You want to protect that ecosystem. So you keep on pushing and pushing until it comes into their senses and they get to realize they need to conserve." - 00:00:35 "We know that the enemy is carbon, and we know its ugly face. We should put a big fat price on it, and of course, add to that, drop the subsidies." - 00:01:29 "Mangroves shield the coast from storms and erosion, provide habitat for baby fish, and pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at a rate about 10 times higher per hectare than terrestrial forests do." - 00:01:57 "But you quickly realized that the cost of even conservative harvesting, in terms of reduced protection, increased erosion, and plummeting fish stocks, not to mention climate impacts, dwarfed any income that people could get from timber sales." - 00:03:23 "We are trying to tap into new areas. We also have a program that focuses on ecotourism. We want to venture into that." - 00:07:32 "The investors are the partners who adopted sites. Like corporate? Even individual." - 00:12:51 "It's not really about being philanthropic, but just being reality, to be alive to the fact that conservation is a process." - 00:13:24 "We are not interested in those huge chunks of plants for restoration. If the size of this room, which you can adopt, is enough to facilitate sustainability into the ecosystem, then let's apply it." - 00:24:03 "The finance will come. That's what I keep telling myself about this show." - 00:27:17 "You want to protect that ecosystem. So you keep on pushing and pushing until it comes into their senses and they get to realize they need to conserve." - 00:32:55

Today we’re going to try and help you understand one of the most vexing components of the climate challenge — namely, the overlapping, interlinking, and contradictory land titles that determine control of so many tropical forests — in this case, the Amazon, the lungs of the planet.  With no clarity over control and no realistic way of enforcing it, there’s no way to sustainably manage and protect this massive bulwark against climate change. Today’s episode centers around a few individuals, most notably a Japan-born physician named Jonas Morioka, who migrated to Brazil in the 1980s, purchased timberland in the 1990s, pivoted to conservation in the 2000s, and is now embroiled in a title fight over a transaction that may or may not have taken place a century ago. His story is far from unique, and it shows how easy it is to chop the forest, how difficult it is to save it, and how tenure disputes make it even more difficult to leverage carbon finance for the common good. My guests are Vinny Maffei and Olivier LeJune of Quantum Commodity Intelligence. We collaborated in a recent story they ran called “How a decree created a REDD old mess in Brazil, and the new effort to fix it,” which you can read here: https://www.qcintel.com/carbon/article/long-read-how-a-decree-created-a-redd-old-mess-in-brazil-and-the-new-effort-to-fix-it-23409.html Quotes "To meet the climate challenge, we must save the Amazon." - 00:02:38-00:02:49 "Decades of research have shown that you reduce deforestation in part by reducing poverty, and you reduce poverty in part by giving people an incentive to manage land sustainably." - 00:04:23-00:04:34 "Brazil is very famous for having a lot of large properties owned by just a few people. It's a very unequal country." - 00:19:33-00:19:44 "Forest conservation starts with the people in and around the forest." - 00:28:16-00:28:26 "Deforestation isn't a puzzle book with answers in the back. It's a wicked problem with no simple solution." - 00:30:24-00:30:36 "There are groups out there that are devoted to going in and finding things wrong." - 00:45:01-00:45:12 "There's a lot of interest around REDD+, amongst the media and other actors." - 00:46:39-00:46:49 Timestamps 00:00:00 - Introduction to the Climate Challenge 00:05:30 - Introduction of Michael Greene and Initial Impressions 00:10:12 - Overview of Land Titles in Para, Brazil 00:14:06 - Discussion on Pará State and Porto Region 00:18:29 - Jonas Morioka's Land Purchases and Legal Issues 00:21:48 - Land Ownership and Settlements 00:25:52 - Legal Disputes and Involvement of Public Defender 00:30:03 - Discussion on Indigenous and Environmental Groups 00:32:27 - Arguments Regarding Land Rights and Conservation Efforts 00:37:00 - Negotiations with ITERPA and School Construction 00:41:21 - Financial Aspects and Legal Agreements 00:43:10 - Status of School Construction and Legal Challenges

Photo courtesey of  HH58 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70303656  This episode of Bionic Planet is entitled "The Mosaic, the Minefield, and a Manifesto."  The "Mosaic" reminds us that there is no single solution to the climate challenge. Instead, we have a mosaic of interlocking solutions that fit together like a clock. Carbon finance is just one part of it, and it's one of the few parts that have worked well, albeit imperfectly. The "Minefield" reminds us that the mosaic of solutions sits in an ideological minefield, and you never know if you’re going to trigger an explosion. The "Manifesto" is my promise to leverage my 20 years of experience in environmental finance to give you a truer, more nuanced, and complete understanding of the climate and biodiversity landscapes than you’ll get anyplace else. The New Vertical This episode is part of a new vertical called "the Tribes of the Climate Realm" to reflect the fact that the climate community is a disunited hodgepodge of tribes who occasionally unite against a common enemy, but who are divided by ideological and sectarian differences that sometimes erupt into something akin to civil war. Tragically, as often happens in these situations, the most combative, belligerent, and least civilized tribes are usually the most colorful, despite having the least to offer. That's led to a dangerous disconnect between the real debates taking place inside the climate realm and the public discourse unfolding outside of it. I initially started to call this vertical "Unmasking the Anti-REDD Crusade," because there is a very high-profile anti-REDD crusade, but I felt that frame was too narrow and dismissive of legitimate challenges, philosophical disputes, and areas where reasonable people can disagree.  It's part of a new vertical that I'm calling "The Tribes of the Climate Realm" to reflect the fact that the climate community is not a monolithic entity but is, instead, something like a disunified realm spread across thousands of contested miles of mountains, plains, and forests, with competing tribes and factions and all the different perspectives, agendas, and intrigue that come with it. The Tribes of the Climate Realm may occasionally unite against a common enemy –- climate change –- but they're divided by ideological and sectarian differences that sometimes erupt into something akin to civil war. Tragically, as often happens in these situations, the most combative, belligerent, and least civilized tribes usually have the least to offer but are also the most colorful, so they win the hearts and minds of outsiders drawn to bright, shiny objects –- which is to say, most of us who've ignored the Climate Realm and its internecine battles until recently -- despite the fact that the realm and its battles have been very public since the United Nations' First World Climate Conference in 1979. Related Links  Will Coverage of Climate Solutions Suffer the Same Fate as Coverage of Climate Science Six Lessons from the History of Natural Climate Solutions Where Does Healthy Critique End and Cynical Denial Begin? Timestamps 00:00:00 - Introduction to the Tribes of the Climate Realm 00:04:10 - Introduction to Enhanced Weathering as a Solution 00:05:03 - Historical Background of Enhanced Weathering 00:06:29 - Debate Over Enhanced Weathering Methodologies 00:07:10 - Purpose of the Voluntary Carbon Market 00:08:03 - Mark Kenber's Perspective on Climate Efforts 00:09:21 - Marc Stewart's Contribution to Forest Carbon Protocol 00:09:55 - Media Misrepresentation of Carbon Markets 00:10:39 - Challenges Faced by the Verified Carbon Standard 00:12:14 - Importance of Accurate Storytelling in Climate Discourse 00:13:09 - Call for Sponsorship and Support for Bionic Planet 00:14:23 - Emphasizing the Complexity of Climate Solutions 00:16:30 - Contrasting Narratives in the Climate Realm 00:17:44 - Manifesto for Honest and Nuanced Climate Reporting 00:19:08 - Exploration of VCS Genesis and Carbon Projects 00:20:01 - Conclusion and Call to Action Quotes •    00:00:31-00:00:42 "Tragically, as often happens in these situations, the most combative, belligerent, and least civilized tribes are usually the most colorful, despite having the least to offer." •    00:01:18-00:01:29 "We need to elevate the public discourse. But that doesn't mean replacing anti-market propaganda with pro-market propaganda, although it does mean purging the bunk that's out there already." •    00:04:10-00:04:20 "I smelled more than money in his mail. I smelled a rat." •    00:05:03-00:05:14 "In rocks, it happens over millions of years, while in trees, it happens over decades." •    00:07:42-00:07:53 "Let's not forget that we're here because we failed." •    00:16:30-00:16:40 "The first native has an easier story to tell, but the second one has a truer story to tell."  

Tim Mohin wrote “Changing Business from the Inside Out: A Tree-Hugger’s Guide to Working in Corporations” back in 2012, after three decades in sustainability — first in government, with the US Environmental Protection Agency, and then at companies like Intel, where he served as director of sustainable development. He went on to head the Global Reporting Initiative, which administers the GRI standards for sustainability. He recently helped launmch ESG data provider Persefoni and hosts his own podcast, “Sustainability Decoded with Tim and Caitlin.” We look back on 40 years of sustaiability finance and ahead to the future of Environmental, Social, and corporate Governance (ESG) reporting — its potential for driving real change, its prospects for employment, and its inherent limitations.

Remembering the Surui Forest Carbon Project, which was the first indigenous-led REDD project, plus: A conversation with Geoffry Mwangi Wambungu, Chief Research Scientist at the Kasigau REDD Project in Kenya. He explains what social scientists mean by “theory of change,” and tells us why he believes the term “co-benefits” is a misnomer in natural climate solutions. Further reading on the Surui Carbon Project here: https://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/articles/story-surui-forest-carbon-project/ Full Transcript (non-scripted portions translated by AI)   CO-BENEFITS VS CORE BENEFITS, WITH GEOFFREY MWANGI Bionic Planet, Season 9, Episode 95 OPENING HOOK STEVE ZWICK Almir Surui was ten years old when the first logging truck came to his tiny village deep in the Amazon Forest. It came to chop a single stand of centuries-old mahoganies, and it came with the grudging approval of the chiefs. After all, they reasoned, it was just one truck, one stand, one time, and for a good cause. The chiefs weren’t the grizzled old men you probably imagine. Most were barely into their 30s, because more than 90 percent of everyone had died in the five years before Almir was born in 1974. Ninety Percent. Gone. They lost their mothers, their brothers, their sisters, and their lovers. They lost almost everyone who knew anything about governance. The surviving chiefs, shamans, and elders lost faith in their own abilities to serve their people, because their time-tested traditions had failed. Prior to 1969, Brazilian authorities categorized Almir’s people as an “UNCONTACTED” tribe of the Amazon, but in reality, they HAD contact — SOMETIMES peaceful but MOSTLY violent contact — with neighboring tribes, rubber tappers, and even Brazilian explorers going back decades. One of those neighboring tribes called Almir’s people the “Surui,” but Almir’s people called themselves the Paiter. In the regional Tupi dialect, Surui means “enemy,” while Paiter means “real people.” Due to a miscommunication, the Paiter were entered into the lexicon of indigenous people as “Surui” in the leadup to First Contact, which took place on October 7 1969. Today, their name is hyphenated: Paiter-Surui. The Paiter-Surui had lived in harmony with the forest for centuries, but they didn’t live in harmony with those who invaded their territory. And invasions increased dramatically in the years prior to First Contact, as Brazilian authorities encouraged westward migration into the forest. It was a bloody period, and the Paiter-Surui held their own in combat, but they couldn’t hold their own against European diseases — such as smallpox, measles, and the flu. That’s what got them in the end. The elders died, and kids became chiefs. One of those kids was a 17-year-old named Itabira, who learned to navigate the OUTside world of Brazilian society as the world IN-which he’d grown up disintegrated (Aside) By the way, if you can’t find any of this online, it’s because it’s all original reporting, and my book hasn’t been published yet. Anyway, Itabira realized early on that to save his people, he had to push the Paiter-Surui and their struggle into Brazilian awareness. To do that, he and other chiefs stopped fighting illegal loggers and started colluding with them to finance trips to Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. Soon, they were chopping trees to feed their families and pay for medicine, and by the mid-1990s, they were known as the “logging Indians” — despised by environmentalists who saw them as traitors to the cause and riven internally by fights over how to manage their resources. The Paiter-Surui broadly split into three factions: one that embraced the destruction of the forest for commercial gain, one that opposed that destruction, and one — the largest of them all — that WANTED to save the forest but NEEDED to feed their families. Almir was born in 1974 — five years after First Contact — and by the time I met him in the late aughts, he was leading the tribe’s anti-logging faction. To save the forest INside his territory, he had to first persuade the OUTside world — meaning most of us — that his people — and ALL indigenous people — needed help, not condemnation, if they were to end deforestation. That’s because far less than half of tropical deforestation comes from corporate clear-cutting and most comes from poor people acting out of desperation, not greed — as we’ve seen in this series focused on Kenya. Illegal logging is something of a hybrid, because commercial entities are buying that illegally-harvested timber, and corrupt officials often turn a blind eye to it. Plus, standing up to loggers is dangerous. I can’t count the number of indigenous people who have been killed doing so, and loggers even put a price on Almir’s head shortly after I met him. Almir put his life on the line to save his forest, and he eventually slashed deforestation by developing the first indigenous-led REDD project. REDD, with two Ds, stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, and it usually works by helping forest people develop sustainable ways of making a living — such as beekeeping, agroforestry, and non-timber forest products. The overwhelming majority of community members voted in favor of Almir’s REDD strategy, but it wasn’t universal. The logging faction opposed it, and the loggers ironically found powerful allies among the wackier elements of the environmental and social justice movements. The Indigenist Missionary Council, or CIMI, for example, threw their support behind the illegal loggers who had put a $100,000 bounty on Almir’s head. They launched a flagrant disinformation campaign that characterized the logging ban as a ban on traditional hunting and gathering, and they portrayed the head of the logging faction as the voice of the people despite the fact that his faction lost the vote. The whole thing was bizarre to anyone who knew the truth, and that, fortunately, included most indigenous leaders across the region. The denounced CIMI, and I’ll link to my coverage of that in the show notes, but most media swallowed CIMI’s lies hook, line, and sinker. Despite these efforts to sabotage it, the project succeeded in slowing deforestation — at least for a few years. Then, some time around 2015, gold and diamonds were discovered in the territory, sparking a tsunamic of illegal invasions that tipped the balance in favor of CIMI and the loggers. Deforestation surged, and the project is currently suspended as a result. Opponents gleefully celebrated this tragedy and used it to validate their own ideological biases. And what are those beliefs? Here’s what CIMI says: “The environment, and the cultures living in harmony with it, should be the basis for human development and societies; not an item of the market economy.” Greenpeace also opposes REDD, and here is their justification: “One must question the motive for this ongoing reliance on market-based mechanisms, the very system that has led humanity to what is now a point of systems collapse.” Now, we all agree that climate change is a result of the greatest market failure in human history — one that values a dead forest more than a living one — and I created Bionic Planet to unpack ALL the efforts to correct that failure — not just to go on and on about REDD all the time. I keep coming back to REDD because the torrent of disinformation spewing onto the pages of certain newspapers is making it impossible to have a rational public discussion on the subject, and forests are dying as a result. There is an incredibly rigorous and DECADES-LONG DEBATE over how best to fix this mess, and my goal with Bionic Planet is to mainstream that legitimate debate, so you can see what’s true, what’s false, and where reasonable people can disagree. Everyone should be free to express their views, but no one is allowed to support their beliefs with opinions disguised as findings, or with half-truths, innuendo, and facts that are cherry-picked, decontextualized, and distorted — which is what CIMI, Greenpeace, and a lot of those opposed to market mechanisms and the whole ESG movement do — as I pointed out in Episode 77. I mention all this because I ran into Almir at year-end climate talks in Dubai, and he’s still fighting for his people’s forest and still arguing — rightly — that we ALL need to support people on the front line of the climate challenge. Finance is how we do that. I’ll link to stuff I’ve written about the Paiter-Surui in the show notes, but for now, the main thing to keep in mind as you listen to today’s show is that all these efforts involve real people in real communities facing real challenges that need our help. That gets lost in a lot of the abstract discussions and technical terms we throw around — such as, for example, our tendency to differentiate between CLIMATE benefits and CO-benefits. Climate benefits are the reductions or removals of greenhouse gasses, while co-benefits are the social, economic, and biodiversity impacts. In the Surui project, the co-benefits are things like… support for sustainable livelihoods in an indigenous community, the promotion of gender equality through support for women-run enterprises, and the restoration of habitat for rare and endangered species, among other things. But the term “co-benefits” is a misnomer, because these activities make the emission reduction possible — whether you’re talking about stand-alone projects or the new jurisdictional initiatives that I’ll be covering more of in Season 9. Today’s guest, Geoffrey Mwangi Wambugu, is the lead research scientist at the Kasigau Corridor REDD project, and we sat down to discuss the project’s theory of change — another of those buzzwords that leaves people cold. In the midst of our discussion, he said something profound. GEOFFREY MWANGI WAMBUGU In our theory of change document, we actually do recognize what you are calling co-benefits, “c-o” as core benefits, “c-o-r-e.” STEVE ZWICK So, it’s not co-benefits, it’s core benefits. GEOFFR

Dr. Zorodzai Maroveke -- AKA "Dr. Zoey" -- heads the Zimbabwe Industrial Hemp Trust, which is promoting the uptake of industrial hemp as a climate smart alternative to wood, cotton, and plastic. Hemp, she explains, replenishes faster than wood, uses far less water than cotton, and has almost no waste. Its ecological benefits are clear, and she hopes carbon finance can be used to overcome the financial challenges to scaling up. Supplemental Reading: "Commodities at a Glance: Special Issue on Industrial Hemp" https://www.mycannabis.com/cannabis-in-zimbabwe-conversation-with-dr-maroveke/

Zimbabwean entrepreneur Chiyedza Heri runs the Ubuntu Alliance, a company that's helping farmers leverage carbon finance to shift to more sustainable forms of agriculture. She's one of more than a dozen young Africans I met at year-end climate talks in Dubai (COP 28) -- a new breed of entrepreneur that the late Ghanian economist George Ayittey calls "cheetahs" because they're nimble, quick, and hungry. Green Cheetahs pursue activities that are pro-nature as well as pro-growth, and today's guest certainly fits that bill.

With just one full day of negotiations remaining, Pedro Venzon and Andrea Bonzanni of the International Emissions Trading Association summarize the remaining issues under Article 6

Article 6 negotiations, which focus on international carbon markets, remain stalled in Dubai. Kelley Hamrick Malvar of The Nature Conservancy offers a look into the current state of play and the road ahead.

Kenyan agronomist George Thumbi is helping farmers in the region between Tsavo East and Tsavo West improve their yields and their soil by shifting to agroforestry and other forms of sustainable agriculture. 

In part three of our continuing series from Kenya, we hear how the Chyulu Hills REDD+ Project helped people switch from burning trees for charcoal to conserving forests -- the their benefit and the benefit of us all. 

Evans Maneno is Makueni County Ecosystem Conservator for the Kenya Forestry Service. He walks us through a tree nursery in the Chyulu Hills and explains how the Chyulu Hills REDD+ Project has reversed deforestation by helping people develop sustainable livelihoods -- reviving in the process a threatened river that provides water for people hundreds of miles away.  Second in a series

A decade ago,  the cloud forests of Kenya's Chyulu Hills were on the brink of collapse, threatening water supplies for the Tsavo and Amboseli Plains — and for the coastal City of Mombasa, 250 kilometers away. Then the Kenya Forestry and Wildlife Services teamed up with the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, the Big Life Foundation, the Sheldrake Wildlife Trust, Conservation International, and, most importantly, grazing collectives, called “community group ranches” to launch the Chyulu Hills REDD+ Project — a thirty-year private-public partnership designed to save the hills by overhauling the rural economy.  First in a series focused on ecological restoration in southern and central Kenya.

Ghana's cocoa economy is second only to Côte d'Ivoire's, but climate change threatens to decimate it. Today's guest, Roselyn Fosuah Adjei of the Ghana Forestry Commission, is charged with leveraging carbon finance -- and specifically REDD+ -- to avert that disaster. 

A 2021 study of trees in America showed that poor neighborhoods had far fewer trees than wealthier ones, and that translates into higher temperatures, poorer air, and more deaths. Jad Daley of American Forests explains the Tree Equity Score, what it means, and his organization's effort to plant -- and, more importantly, grow -- 522 million trees across American cities.