The human species evolved over a long period in which CO2 parts per million (ppm) never exceeded 300. Today we’re at 409—or 490 if all greenhouse gases including CO2 , methane, nitrous oxide, and HFCs are taken into consideration. This is unprecedented, making global warming the one problem that subsumes all others.
Paul Hawken and his team of experts at Project Drawdown have compiled and modeled the best available information and ranked a hundred solutions according to financial, social, and environmental impact. We are proud to showcase a small selection of these—many simple and already in place. While the mission is daunting, every individual can and must contribute. We can’t expect big government and “others” to fix the biosphere—it’s a middle-out process demanding universal cooperation. The task of reversing global warming—and contributing to global cooling—is the one challenge we collectively share, the one common ground.
All statistics courtesy of Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming (Penguin
Books). Drawdown.org
#73
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
0.77 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
$1.39 TRILLION
NET COST
$988.5 BILLION
NET SAVINGS
#8
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
36.9 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
-$80.6 BILLION
NET COST
$5.02 TRILLION
NET SAVINGS
#15
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
18.06 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
$29.4 BILLION
NET COST
$392.3 BILLION
NET SAVINGS
#33
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
7.81 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
$323.5 BILLION
NET COST
$1.73 TRILLION
NET SAVINGS
#22
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
14.1 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
$572.4 BILLION
NET COST
$274.6 BILLION
NET SAVINGS
#66
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
1.52 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
-$1.04 TRILLION
NET COST
$368.1 BILLION
NET SAVINGS
#4
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
66.11 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
GLOBAL COST AND SAVINGS
DATA
TOO VARIABLE TO BE DETERMINED
#58
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
2.5 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
-$1.8 BILLION
NET COST
$67.6 BILLION
NET SAVINGS
#1
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
89.74 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
DATA TOO VARIABLE TO BE DETERMINED
-$902.8 BILLION
NET SAVINGS
#7
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
59.6 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
INAPPROPRIATE TO
MONETIZE A HUMAN RIGHT
#59
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
2.31 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
-$2.03 TRILLION
NET COST
$400.5 BILLION
NET SAVINGS
#3
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
70.53 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
GLOBAL COST AND SAVINGS DATA
TOO VARIABLE TO BE DETERMINED
#24
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
11.34 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
NO ADDITIONAL
NET COST
$519.1 BILLION
NET SAVINGS
#35
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
7.22 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
$23.8 BILLION
NET COST
$264.8 BILLION
NET SAVINGS
#6
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
59.6 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
#10
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
24.6 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
$453.1 BILLION
NET COST
$3.46 TRILLION
NET SAVINGS
#5
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
61.23 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
GLOBAL COST AND SAVINGS
DATA TOO VARIABLE TO BE DETERMINED
#26
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
10.8 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
$14.15 TRILLION
NET COST
$9.73 TRILLION
NET SAVINGS
#9
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
31.19 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
$41.6 BILLION
NET COST
$699.4 BILLION
NET SAVINGS
#18
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
16.6 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
-$155.5 BILLION
NET COST
$1.02 TRILLION
NET SAVINGS
#21
RANKING AND RESULTS BY 2050
15.81 GIGATONS
REDUCED CO2
$72.2 BILLION
NET COST
$166.3 BILLION
NET SAVINGS
