Most nations recently agreed to hold global average temperature rise to well below 2 °C. We examine how much climate mitigation nature can contribute to this goal with a comprehensive analysis of “natural climate solutions” (NCS): 20 conservation, restoration, and/or improved land management actions that increase carbon storage and/or avoid greenhouse gas emissions across global forests, wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural lands. We show that NCS can provide over one-third of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed between now and 2030 to stabilize warming to below 2 °C.

Ever increasing power demand coupled with CO2 emission from coal-based power plants is a critical challenge for worldwide energy sector. This is even more critical for a country like India where a large coal reserve exists and about 60% of the total power produced is from coal. Meeting energy demand and simultaneously satisfying CO2 emissions target, India has to develop power from coal using more advanced technology than existing subcritical pulverized coal fired one. IGCC with CO2 capture emerges as a prospective option for using coal with reduced CO2 emissions.

Ecosystem carbon carrying capacity (CCC) is determined by prevailing climate and natural disturbance regimes, conditions that are projected to change significantly. The interaction of changing climate and its effects on disturbance regimes is expected to affect forest regeneration and growth, which may diminish forest carbon (C) stocks and uptake. We modeled landscape C dynamics over 590 years along the latitudinal gradient of the U.S. Sierra Nevada Mountains under climate and area burned by large wildfires projected by late 21st century.