Jonathan Foley

A skyrocketing demand for food means that agriculture has become the largest driver of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental destruction. Jonathan Foley shows why we desperately need to begin "terraculture" -- farming for the whole planet.

The world recognizes that climate change is an urgent and important issue. Despite this, our actions are still woefully insufficient to address the problem. To stop climate change in time, following the Paris Accords, we must greatly accelerate our efforts and advance effective solutions far more quickly. One of the keys to avoiding climate catastrophe is to rapidly invest significant capital in climate solutions through private investment, philanthropy, and government funding. Philanthropists, impact investors, and venture capitalists are now investing over $150 billion per year in new climate solutions and ventures. The world’s governments are also starting to step up, investing even more in climate solutions. And this funding will likely accelerate, snowballing into significant action. This presents us with a huge opportunity today. Unfortunately, despite the massive increase in climate investing, much of the money isn’t being allocated wisely, following the best scientific guidance. Too often, there is a significant disconnect between what the best climate science says and where the money is going. We need to change this and align climate philanthropy and investing with the best science. Climate philanthropists and investors need better science-based tools and frameworks to allocate capital to the most effective climate solutions – solutions that will yield the greatest benefit to the atmosphere and most effectively address climate change. To address this problem, Project Drawdown has developed a new “Drawdown Roadmap” that provides a science-based allocation framework to help private investors, philanthropists, and other funders develop more effective climate strategies.

When it comes to climate solutions, "now is better than new, and time is more important than tech," says scientist Jonathan Foley. He presents a six-part framework to more efficiently address climate change, from better aligning capital with carbon to utilizing affordable solutions that are ready to go now. Learn more about what the data says to do — and how the solutions might be cheaper than we think.

Global food production — from meat to grains — accounts for a third of all greenhouse gas emissions, says sustainability scientist Jonathan Foley. He presents a portfolio of data-backed solutions to build a better food system world-wide, starting with four key steps to cut emissions.