The economic benefits of natural climate solutions (NCS) in Canada are vastly “undervalued, unaccounted for, and uncompensated” and the situation urgently needs to change, concludes a new report issued October 1 by Nature United.
Restoring and protecting Canada’s vast but increasingly vulnerable grasslands, wetlands, agricultural lands, and forests will not only benefit climate and ecosystems, but also deliver huge economic dividends, says the report, Unlocking the Economic Potential of Nature Climate Solutions.
Nature United, a Toronto-headquartered affiliate of The Nature Conservancy, produced the report in partnership with the Smart Prosperity Institute.
The report lands three years after a landmark study published in the journal Science by an international team, including staff from Nature United. It estimated the emission reduction potential of investing in natural climate solutions in Canada at 78 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per year by 2030, equivalent to an 11% reduction in annual emissions in 2021.
“These substantial emissions reductions are achieved at a comparatively low cost to their technological counterparts, and they are readily scaled and available now,” Nature United states in the new report.
They also bring myriad interconnected benefits to humans: flood protection, food security, employment opportunities, plus cultural and spiritual meaning and support.
The inherently local nature of NCS also “helps ensure that Indigenous as well as rural and remote communities are leaders and beneficiaries when it comes to these solutions.”
The extent to which NCS, which currently represent 33% of all untapped mitigation potential worldwide, can yield “significant economic benefits” to Canadians remains severely “undervalued, unaccounted for and uncompensated,” the report says.
“Canada is missing out, but it is not too late.”
85% of Canadians Agree
When all benefits are accounted for, the return on nature-based investments is massive. Citing a recent global study, Nature United pegs it at more than 21:1. That matters, the report says, because “properly accounting for these benefits will be key to unlocking the economic potential of NCS in Canada,” particularly as costs from climate impacts like drought, flooding, and wildfire escalate rapidly.
“There exist significant economic risks Canada will face without action on NCS—and substantial economic opportunity if nature is properly accounted for and invested in accordingly,” the report says. And Canadians are on board: 85% support greater attention to NCS, regardless of age, gender, geography, education, or political views.
But “despite substantial potential benefits and a wealth of natural assets, action at scale is lagging in Canada,” Nature United warns.
Issues with data and paths to cost-effective scaling, plus failure to fully account for non-monetary values and, relatedly make a “compelling business case” for NCS solutions, are key challenges to accelerating NCS in Canada.
Significant data gaps and a dearth of coordinated efforts to standardize data collection formats and outcomes reporting are key issues.
And while “world-class demonstration pilots” are advancing in Canada, the lack of “substantial upfront and ongoing resources needed to get these projects to market” means investors are shying away, so that the pilots remain small and ultimately go nowhere.
Efforts to catalyze NCS in Canada are also held back by the “slow uptake of international standards for environmental-economic accounting,” which would help make the case that a project is a winner because implementation and maintenance costs are more than compensated for by the ecosystem services they provide.
Finally, proponents of NCS projects continue to struggle to make the business case to prospective investors. Critical in building this case will be “identifying opportunities for partnerships and reconciliation,” the report says.
“Some partners need to be engaged as early in the process as possible, even before the project is defined and especially in cases where Indigenous lands or communities will be impacted,” observes Nature United in a boldface note.
Unlocking the Value of Natural Solutions
The report includes detailed sketches of what it will take to unlock the value of NCS in each of four types of Canadian ecosystems: grasslands, wetlands, agricultural lands, and forests. It examines each ecosystem in detail, presenting its specific NCS challenges and opportunities.
And it affirms the need to support Indigenous communities as leaders in developing “conservation economies” through natural climate solutions, citing the Aviqtuuq Inuit Protected and Conserved Area in Nunavut as a success story.
This initiative, which prioritizes food security with its Niqihaqut cut and wrap facility, now returns an estimated $8.3 million to the community each year.
More generally, “local community and municipal decision-makers need to be empowered with expanded mandates to undertake NCS projects in their communities.”
Decision-makers should move swiftly to prioritize a “natural restoration economy” as one of the “most-cost effective ways to improve resilience to climate change while also moving away from one-and-done models of economic growth,” the report says. And all jurisdictions should “prioritize nature-forward policies and regulations.” Nature United warns that current environmental regulations are inadequate to protect Canada’s carbon-rich peatlands, particularly in the face of accelerating critical mineral exploration and extraction.
The authors recommend extending “no-net-loss policies as a baseline for land use decision-making” as a vital step to protect Canada’s grasslands.
