Drawdown
With the current drive towards net-zero carbon, wider environmentalism and regenerative methods, the Drawdown process looks at data-driven approaches to the most efficient way to counter climate change. The Drawdown Roadmap is a science-based strategy for accelerating climate solutions across sectors, timescales, and geographies. It provides a uniquely advantageous process in ranking solutions based on effectiveness, achievability, and cost.
Drawdown in context
The food, agriculture, and land use sector contributes 24 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Farming and forestry practices can also support the role of land in removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Many solutions that reduce land-based emissions also enhance carbon sinks. Solutions in this sector are significant for improving food security and building agricultural resilience, because many of them contribute to a more robust food system, better able to withstand climate impacts.
The prioritised list of solutions is peppered with agricultural solutions, with the highest rated listed below. Positions correct as of March 2024
Priority No. 1
Refrigeration
Refrigerants, specifically CFCs and HCFCs, were once culprits in depleting the ozone layer, but they have been phased out. HFCs, the primary replacement, spare the ozone layer, but have 1,000 to 9,000 times greater capacity to warm the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
Priority No. 3
Food waste
A third of the food raised or prepared does not make it from farm or factory to fork. Producing uneaten food squanders resources. The food we waste is responsible for roughly 8 percent of global emissions.
Priority No. 9
Silvopasture
Research suggests silvopasture outpaces any grassland technique for counteracting Climate change. Pastures strewn or crisscrossed with trees sequester five to ten times as much carbon as those of the same size that are treeless, storing it in both biomass and soil.
Priority No. 10
Rooftop Solar
Small-scale solar systems, typically sited on rooftops, accounted for roughly 30 percent of PV capacity installed worldwide in 2015. In Germany, a leader in solar, rooftops boast 1.5 million systems. In Bangladesh, population 157 million, more than 3.6 million home solar systems have been installed.
Priority No. 11
Regen Farming
Regenerative agriculture enhances and sustains the health of the soil by restoring its carbon content, which in turn improves productivity.
Priority No. 17
Tree Intercropping
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Windbreaks reduce erosion and create habitat for birds and pollinators.
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Fast-growing annuals, susceptible to being flattened by wind and rain, can be protected.
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Deep-rooted plants can draw up minerals and nutrients for shallow-rooted crops.