Woodwell Climate Research Center

Every opportunity to increase investments in the brilliance and resilient solutions of Indigenous Peoples creates boundless impact on planetary health. The Rockefeller Foundation is making a #BigBet on our pathfinding approach beside Pawanka Fund, Woodwell Climate Research Center, WildMon and our ecosystem of partners who are catalyzing and diversifying investment into community-designed solutions for climate and biodiversity. Jonathan Jennings and I are particularly thankful for the advising and support from Alexander Bashian over the past year! We hope to see you all at #COP30 for more exciting announcements. Major thanks to our partners at Earth Finance, Inc., Garrett Kephart and Reuven Carlyle, If Not Us Then Who?, Paul Redman and David Hernández-Palmar, The Ministry of Health in Indonesia, Budi Sadikin, Silverback Earth and ??Moises Uribe ?? and Nicolas Mongardini, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Stephen Cornish, Savimbo, and FSC Indigenous Foundation, Steve Kusmer, Sonila Cook, and Kevin Currey!

Rock glaciers, drought, and carbon models – check out the latest #ClimateScience from Woodwell researchers: ??? We’re losing important rock glacier habitat in the western US: https://bit.ly/3YsHvrr ?? What makes a stable boreal forest? https://bit.ly/3C4USXf ?? In southeastern Amazonia, drought exacerbates soil moisture loss in burned forests: https://bit.ly/4fmlkdg ?? Critical gaps remain in carbon data in the Arctic: https://lnkd.in/eAnNzCH4 https://lnkd.in/ditUdpWr

Mapping permafrost thaw is essential for understanding climate change. That's why Permafrost Pathways is using GIS, satellite imagery, and AI to map permafrost and greenhouse gas emissions across the Arctic for the first time. https://lnkd.in/gSXMc7ZR Woodwell Climate Research Center #GIS #climatechange #imagery #AI #Arctic #permafrost

Woodwell Climate and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute co-hosted the only official COP29 Side Event on wildfire emissions. Together, we presented the latest science behind Arctic wildfires and wildfire-permafrost interactions that are accelerating the release of greenhouse gas emissions. We focused on how these wildfire-related emissions affect the carbon budget and how wildfire mitigation efforts may help achieve the Paris Agreement goals. #ClimateScienceforChange #COP29 #ClimateCOP Jennifer Watts

Tropical forests are currently holding back a full 1 degree C of warming—without them, we can’t hope to meet climate goals. These forests also provide a host of immediate local and regional benefits, including cycling and filtering water, hosting biodiversity, and supporting traditional cultures and livelihoods. The communities who protect and steward these forests need and deserve the world’s support. At COP 29, we highlighted how the latest science and community partnerships can drive nature-based solutions in the world’s largest rainforests. We will work to increase resources for forest conservation through global finance commitments and enhanced integrity of carbon markets through negotiations around Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. #ClimateScienceforChange #COP29 #ClimateCOP

At COP 29, we are specifically focused on building consensus and momentum around the need for greater urgency around climate preparedness — grounded in an understanding of the risks that nations, communities, and ecosystems face under different action scenarios. (?? : Climate Acceptance Studios) #ClimateScienceforChange #COP29 #ClimateCOP Dr. Matti Goldberg

Many things have happened over the last few days. Here are some highlights. Today my colleagues Dr. Jennifer Watts and Dr. Elchin Jafarov spoke at multiple events at the COP 29 Cryosphere Pavilion, highlighting the lack of accounting for emissions from thawing permafrost, the impacts of Arctic change on local communications, infrastructure and livelihoods, as well as developments in monitoring of Arctic change under Permafrost Pathways. One of the highlights was the screening of “The Great Thaw”, a powerful depiction of climate impacts across the Arctic. The COP Presidency outlined the plan for the week along two tracks: pairs of ministers will take up the most difficult questions (amount and contributors to new finance goal, mitigation ambition, global goal on adaptation, and article 6), while experts work in parallel on technical questions. The outputs of these two “tracks” will ideally merge into an outcome by the end of the week. The ministers will report tomorrow, and technical work should finish on Wednesday. After that, difficult balancing across different issues will start and probably last until Saturday or Sunday. It seems that COP 29 success must be found somewhere between the four choices in this table (disclaimer: massively simplified). On science-policy links, the COP adopted a decision on the main science-related item of the conference: research and systematic observation. The outcome indicated where Parties are focusing in terms of earth observations and the UNFCCC. They recognized new inputs from IPCC, WMO, GCOS and others, encouraged the use of revised GCOS monitoring principles, and emphasized the need for support for enhanced observation systems in developing countries e.g. through SOFF (Systematic Observation Financing Facility).

Current climate models and carbon budgets don’t account for a significant portion of expected carbon emissions from thawing Arctic permafrost, which could claim 20-25% of a 2C carbon budget, and from increasingly frequent and intense global wildfires. It is essential that we incorporate what we already know about permafrost and wildfire emissions into our global carbon budgets, and COP 29 offers a critical opportunity to make the case for that shift. #ClimateScienceForChange #COP29 #ClimateCOP

TOMORROW: Nov 19th 7:45am–9:15am ET, C2ES VP for International Strategies Kaveh Guilanpour joins Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and Woodwell Climate Research Center a #COP29 Side Event. "Impacts of Growing Wildfire-Related Emissions on the Global Carbon Budget, the +1.5 Limit, and the Next NDCs" will explore the latest scientific insights into wildfire-related emissions, focusing on their consequences for the global carbon budget. Panelists will examine how increasing emissions, especially from intensifying Arctic fire regimes, impact the +1.5°C climate limit and inform the development of future Nationally Determined Contributions (#NDCs). ?? WATCH the livestream: https://lnkd.in/g7fR_Mqa

Here’s what Woodwell Climate accomplished at the first week of COP29: ?? We launched our pavilion, hosted multiple panels and meetings, and welcomed Senator Ed Markey. ?? The UNFCCC announced a collaboration with Woodwell Climate to develop a new training course to prepare experts for a voluntary review of adaptation reporting by Parties under the Paris Agreement. ?? With advanced data modeling, we presented a climate risk assessment for Ethiopia. ?? We discussed the potential for AI to empower climate action on a panel hosted by Google.org in the UNFCCC pavilion. ?? We responded to an agreement regarding principles for implementing carbon markets under the Paris Agreement. ?? We brought together scientists, finance leaders and data experts to understand the state of climate risk in finance and how we can advance into financial action. ?? We fused security, science, and storytelling into a roundtable discussion on climate hazards. Still wondering what the Climate COP is all about and what's at stake this year? https://lnkd.in/e_tAqqUQ (?? : Sitara Ibrahimbayli / Hi Impact, Abby Fennelly) Dave McGlinchey Dr. Matti Goldberg Dominick Dusseau Jamie Cummings Abigail Fennelly Glenn Bush Elchin Jafarov Ludmila Rattis Wayne Walker Jennifer Watts