Natural Climate Solutions are land management, protection and restoration practices that hold carbon and other nutrients in the soil while removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Reducing emissions alone will not be enough to meet global carbon-reduction goals.

We must also remove and store carbon from the atmosphere. Natural climate solutions provide an immediate solution—our own environment has the inherent capability to serve as a massive carbon sink.

Practices that store carbon in soils simultaneously provide improvements to soil health and fertility, local water quality, and resilience of farmland against the effects of a changing climate.

Natural Climate Solutions are relatively low-cost and can be implemented now. 

Wisconsin needs bold, science-based policy and collaboration across all sectors to reverse the decline of our water resources and fight the challenges posed by climate change.

Opportunities for Carbon Storage

Impacts of Conventional Agriculture in Wisconsin

For decades, farmers have produced abundant and inexpensive food but at a great environmental cost. To reverse the decline of our water resources and address the challenges posed by climate change, we must work with farmers to chart a new course for our food system. This is why:

• Commodity crops like corn and soybeans have depleted once-nutrient rich soils, leading to intensive application of fertilizers year after year
• Over-application of fertilizers creates nutrient runoff into our groundwater, streams, rivers and lakes
• Efforts to improve efficiency of large livestock operations have led to concentrated animal farming operations (CAFOs), which intensify waste accumulation and, when improperly managed, release of methane gas
• Current subsidies provide financial incentives for farmers to prioritize mono-cropping and and CAFOs, which further deplete soil health

The Urgent Need for Climate-Smart Agriculture

Thirty percent of Wisconsin’s land is used for agriculture — more than 14 million acres. But all that production comes with a cost:

• Agriculture is responsible for 15% of Wisconsin’s total greenhouse gas emissions, and that contribution is growing.
• Mono-cropping (the practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same land) has led to tired soils, resulting in nutrient loss and erosion.
• Over-application of fertilizer is harming groundwater, streams, rivers and lakes. 

But there are solutions, and Wisconsin farmers can lead the way.

Cultivating Climate-Smart Crops

Growing climate-smart crops, like kernza, hazelnuts, or aronia, can help build resilience to climate change, increase agricultural productivity and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Instead of protecting our environment from agriculture, climate-smart crops allow us to preserve our environment with agriculture.

Wisconsin’s Initiative on Climate Change Impacts

The Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) is a statewide collaboration of scientists and stakeholders formed as a partnership between UW-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. WICCI’s goals are to evaluate climate change impacts on Wisconsin and foster solutions.

Urban Green Infrastructure

Green infrastructure practices like building bioswales around parking lots and streets to capture polluted storm runoff, installing rain gardens and green roofs, planting trees, and developing green spaces help reduce the risk of flooding and keep our waterways healthy. But they also capture carbon from the atmosphere through sequestration and help communities become more resilient in the face of worsening severe weather brought by climate change.