The private sector has a big role to play in implementing climate action.

The solutions we need are not the flashy fixes we often see portrayed as panaceas: While things like offsets and carbon removal technologies play a role, they can be scientifically unsound and untimely. Instead, the private sector must focus on real, strategic, and systemic impact that goes beyond reducing their own emissions.

The Drawdown-Aligned Business Framework provides valuable guidance for doing just that, bringing to light the political, social, and human capital businesses have to help the world achieve zero emissions. And now a good thing has gotten even better: With the help of business partner Unity, a real-time gaming development platform, and a working group of key industry experts, we’re proud to release Project Drawdown’s first industry-specific resource for climate action: A Drawdown-Aligned Framework for the Gaming Industry.

This article is the fourth in a series introducing the members of Project Drawdown’s new science team.

Kate Marvel is a climate scientist who focuses on modeling how our planet is changing and understanding what could happen in the future. Before joining Project Drawdown, Kate worked at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Columbia University, Stanford University, the Carnegie Institution, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. A former cosmologist, she received a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Cambridge University. Her book Human Nature will be published by Ecco Press in 2023.

Here, Kate shares what brought a cosmologist down to Earth, how going on way too long of a hike can help catalyze a career in climate science, and more. 

Q: What is your role with the Project Drawdown Science team? 

A: As the senior scientist for climate, I’m helping to understand the climate impacts of solutions and the climate impact if we don't deploy those solutions. My role is one that I can’t accomplish alone—I really need to be working with an interdisciplinary team. This is why I’m so excited to be here. I love learning new things, I love talking to people smarter than me. And to be able to do that in the service of climate solutions is a dream come true.  

Q: What superpower do you bring to the job?

A: Not being afraid of asking dumb questions. I have an awareness of what I don't know and a respect for what other people know and the ability to talk across disciplines and to listen across disciplines. It takes a lot of effort and energy to be an expert in any field. But that’s not enough. We need experts in everything, but we need translators, too.

Q: What’s a childhood toy or experience that relates to the work you’re doing today?

A: My dad used to take me on very poorly planned outdoor adventures—ones I was much too young for, like a 15-mile hike—and forget to do very basic things like bring water. That gave me both a love of the natural world and also a healthy respect for it. And that contributes to how I feel about climate change. Nature is always throwing things at us. You sometimes hear, “Don’t worry, we’ll just adapt.” I agree there are many things we need to do to increase resilience, but there is no “just” about it. Nature is a very powerful force, and we’re changing it in a big way.

Q: What was the subject of your Ph.D. dissertation, and why? 

A: On the spontaneous generation by quantum tunneling of a bubble of alternative universes within our universe. I chose that because I was interested in trying to solve what is probably one of the most outstanding problems in physics, which is (awkwardly) that we have no idea what 95 percent of the universe is. I’m not sure it worked, but it was interesting, and it taught me quantitative skills I still use today. 

Q: How did you get from there to here? 

A: I realized in the process that the most interesting things to me were made out of normal matter and in fact are here on Earth. This is where everything I care about is, and it’s changing, and maybe I can use some of my physics skills to understand how and why this place I love is changing and maybe be able to do something about that. I got a science fellowship at Stanford that was flexible as long as it had a science component and policy component. I used that to explore different areas and landed on climate modeling.

Q: What’s a favorite Drawdown Solution? 

A: I’ll go with seaweed farming. My 7-year-old wants to be a kelp farmer, mostly because he thinks that he’ll get his own sea otter that way. We talk a lot about climate change—not in a doom and gloom framework, but about how we know this is a problem and we know there are many different solutions. And this is one way he wants to help solve it. 

Q: When you’re not working, what’s your ideal way to spend a weekend?

A: I love water—swimming, surfing, going to the beach with my family. I grew up in Ohio. Not growing up in a coastal city is a great way to learn to love the coast.

Q: You have a book, Human Nature, coming out later this year. Care to provide a sneak preview? 

A: It’s the story of climate science in nine different emotions. In each chapter I present an aspect of the science and how it makes me feel—the physics of the Earth and wonder; attribution and shame; the history of global warming science and anger at how it was ignored, and so on. The second-to-last pair is solutions and hope, and the final chapter pairs the fundamental interconnectedness of everything with the emotion of love. That’s why I got into his line of work. I love the Earth, and I love the people on it. 

Q: You seem both a right-brain and a left-brain person. How do you get your two selves to play well together?

A: I don’t really see them in opposition. Science can really learn from the arts. When we look at climate projections, it helps to be able to use the tools that an artist would use, that a writer would use. We talked about communicating across disciplines. That’s what literature is for; that’s what poetry is for. 

Q: Who is your climate hero? 

A: Whoever is reading this—you are my climate hero if you are doing climate solution work.

Like to learn more about Kate? Check out her TED talk, “Can Clouds Buy Us More Time to Solve Climate Change?” and her Story Collider presentation, “Becoming a Genius.”

“We did it! We reached ‘drawdown’!” Imagine the day we will be able to say that. At Project Drawdown, we’re doing more than imagining. We’re making it happen.

Our latest publication, “Accelerate: Annual Outcomes and Outlook Report,” provides a snapshot of accomplishments during 2022 and a look at how we’re building on those successes in 2023. Check it out to learn how, with our supporters’ help, our work is accelerating the adoption of science-based climate solutions that help individuals and organizations reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

We know the “why” and the “what” of working to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. But the “when,” “where” and “how” have been largely a matter of guesswork – until now.

With the launch today of the Drawdown Roadmap, Project Drawdown – the world’s leading source of climate solutions – is outlining a specific, actionable strategy for implementing solutions on a global scale in time to avoid the worst adverse effects of climate change.

“We live in the most incredible moment in human history,” said Project Drawdown executive director Jonathan Foley in announcing the release. “We now have both the means and opportunity to accelerate climate solutions. Let’s do it.”

Drawdown’s Neighborhood, presented by Project Drawdown, is a series of short documentaries featuring the stories of climate solutions heroes, city by city across America. The fourth edition—Drawdown’s Neighborhood: New Orleans – is now available online!

The Big Easy. Crescent City. The Birthplace of Jazz. The Paris of the South. N’awlins. Or simply NOLA. The latest installment of Drawdown’s Neighborhood takes us to one of the most vibrant and resilient cities in the United States: New Orleans, Louisiana.

New Orleans is more than a city rich in culture; it is a place of resilience, where people live, work and play on the frontlines of climate change with hurricanes, oil drilling disasters, and shrinking coastlines due to sea level rise lingering as not-too-distant concerns.

It is also home to a diverse network of people and organizations working on climate solutions. Often, the communities most immediately and severely affected by climate change—including Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color—are excluded from dialogues about solutions. Drawdown's Neighborhood: New Orleans features the stories of eight change-makers working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create a healthier, more just future for all.

Voices of New Orleans

Join host and Project Drawdown storyteller Matt Scott as he introduces us to:

Melody Arcia, Communications Coordinator, SOUL (Sustaining Our Urban Landscape)

Joshua Benitez, Co-Director, Common Ground Relief

Travis Charles Banks, Project Manager and Principal, Gravel Road Builders & Construction Services

Jonshell Johnson, Education Coordinator, Grow Dat Youth Farm

Willie Jones III, Green Infrastructure Technician, Groundwork New Orleans

Shelley Stiaes, Wildlife Refuge Manager, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Ashley Thompson, Resident Services Coordinator, SBP (St. Bernard Project), St. Peter Apartments

Tinice Willams, Executive Director, Feed the Second Line

Much of New Orleans’ history is shared orally and not necessarily documented; powerful and culturally significant stories of resistance, repair, strength, healing, and solidarity can serve as a solution blueprint for future generations.

Share These Stories

Help us amplify the work of climate heroes across New Orleans by sharing their stories with others in your network and across social media. Please feel free to copy and past the posts below:

Sample post 1:

Discover your inner climate superhero! Check out #DrawdownsNeighborhood: #NewOrleans, presented by @ProjectDrawdown – a short doc series that tells the stories of 8 climate heroes enacting meaningful change & strengthening their communities’ climate resilience. www.drawdown.org/neighborhood

Sample post 2:

Join @ProjectDrawdown on a journey to #PassTheMic to climate heroes whose stories often go unheard. This month let us take you to #NewOrleans to show you how 8 residents are working day in & day out to help create a healthier & more livable future for all. www.drawdown.org/neighborhood

Sample post 3:

Want to help stop climate change… but not sure where to start? #DrawdownsNeighborhood: #NewOrleans features 8 stories from a city where people are mobilizing to fuel a green future by turning #ClimateSolutions into #ClimateAction. www.drawdown.org/neighborhood

Additional, shareable assets include:

The Drawdown’s Neighborhood landing page

Drawdown’s Neighborhood: New Orleans trailer

Drawdown’s Neighborhood: New Orleans promotional graphic

This article is the sixth in a series introducing the members of Project Drawdown’s science team.

Tina Swanson joined the Drawdown Science team as a visiting scholar in June 2023. An environmental scientist with a background in cross-disciplinary research and engagement at the science/policy interface, she is passionate about applying science to benefit society. 

Tina comes to Project Drawdown with more than two decades of experience in the environmental nonprofit arena, including with The Bay Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). 

Here, Tina explains why Project Drawdown is the perfect next step in her long and illustrious career, describes how she once found herself clinging to a ship’s mast high above the ocean, vouches for the therapeutic value of punching clay, and more.

Q: What is your role with the Project Drawdown Science team?

A: I bring to Project Drawdown a very broad expertise and knowledge base, and I hope one of the values I offer is to help periodically identify some of the cross-connections and synergies that my teammates may not have yet considered. I want to complement their expertise, which is very deep and very impressive, with some of my experience with how the policy arena works in its intersection with science.

Q: Why Project Drawdown? 

A: I have been a scientist working at the intersection of science and policy for more than 20 years. I went into it as a very deliberate professional decision after a number of years in academia because I wanted to be in a position to say, “This is what the science says, and based on what the science says this is what you should do.” 

When I left NRDC, I was not quite ready to retire. Climate change is such an urgent and existential problem that I felt an obligation to stay engaged. I was drawn to Project Drawdown because it’s a science-based organization devoted to the solutions rather than just defining the problem. I think we need to apply more science to the solutions—not just what they should be, but how to get them into the world.

Q: Do you have pets? 

A: I do! A dog, Griffin, half German shepherd and half Dutch shepherd. A cat, Tess, and a splendid horse, Shiloh. I have a fish tank, too. I’m a fisheries biologist, so I always have a fish tank. I can’t imagine life without them.

Q: What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done on purpose? 

A: When I was in college I did a semester-long program at Woods Hole and spent six weeks on a 100-foot-long topsail schooner in the Caribbean and Atlantic. I’m afraid of heights, and one of the things I made myself do is climb up the shrouds to the working platform on the mainmast. It was really high above the ocean and swayed sickeningly as the ship sailed. Once was enough!

Q: What superpower(s) do you bring to this job? 

A: I think what I bring is a result of decades of experience working in this arena—an interest and ability to see the big picture and an understanding of where the various knobs and levers are for being able to effect change. Another really important thing is a sense of both humility and humor.

Q: What gives you hope? 

A: What gives me hope is being able to work with people at Project Drawdown as well as other organizations that are working really, really hard to solve the problems we have and to do it in ways that work. The best solutions are the ones that will solve the problems and also provide other useful co-benefits. I have hope that we can solve this. I do not underestimate how much of a challenge it's going to be, but I have hope.

Q: What makes you crazy? 

A: The thing that makes me the craziest is the increasing ability of people to ignore and resist factual information. As a scientist, that maddens me because all of my training and personality are like, “Figure out how something works based on the facts, and respond in kind.” I’m maddened when people instead rely on magical thinking designed to support their preconceived notions. 

Q: Do you have a happy place? 

A: Out in the California countryside riding a horse.

Q: Tell me about your artwork. 

A: I started taking classes in ceramics sculpture when I was at UC Davis, partly to counterbalance the intense research, analysis, and number crunching part of my life. I use a technique called handbuilding to sculpt human and animal figures, vessels, and tiles. I’ve sculpted a lot of fish.

I find working with clay very therapeutic, both physically and mentally. To push and mold and smack and craft it into shape is very satisfying. It’s an exercise in three-dimensional thinking. I would recommend it to anybody.

“Passing the mic” in the context of the climate crisis is all about recognizing that the communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change – Black communities, Indigenous communities, and communities of color – are often the least represented in the conversations we have and the stories we tell. Thankfully, a number of platforms are stepping up to amplify the voices that have long been excluded. One of them is Pattrn, a digital platform in partnership with The Weather Channel, “for those who love the earth, fight for its future, and want to learn more about how to protect it.”

Recently, Pattrn added Drawdown’s Neighborhood, the climate solutions short documentary series presented by Project Drawdown centering the underrepresented climate heroes that have often gone unheard, to its lineup.

Project Drawdown’s Director of Storytelling & Engagement Matt Scott, who created and hosts Drawdown’s Neighborhood, recently spoke with Stephanie Abrams and Jordan Steele on The Weather Channel’s Pattrn Show about Drawdown’s Neighborhood and the significance of telling stories like those featured in the series.

“For so long, as [climate] storytellers, we’ve thought that what we need to do is scare people,” Scott says during the interview. “[But] while we need to bring in the story of the problem and the crisis and those realities so people know it’s there, we also need to bring in the other half of the story of the solutions and what people can do.” 

To date, the series has interviewed 48 climate heroes across seven locations with 11 of those stories set to premiere this fall. “There are so many voices and stories, and I’m just so thankful that some of them can be out there through Pattrn and The Weather Channel,” Scott says.

Pattrn's mission is to explore, inform, engage, and revel in the patterns of our amazing planet. Since Pattrn's launch, the brand has evolved from a social media community to a free ad-supported streaming TV channel whose content is dedicated to climate and sustainability news and programming.

In a report published today, Project Drawdown scientists provide the most comprehensive look yet at how addressing black carbon – more commonly known as soot – would reduce global warming while preventing millions of premature deaths and saving trillions of dollars annually worldwide. 

Key Report Takeaways: 

• Black carbon is a powerful climate pollutant that stems from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass.
• Black carbon has unparalleled impacts on human well-being, the environment, and climate change.  
• Black carbon has a short-term warming potential up to 1,500 times greater than carbon dioxide and is responsible for millions of premature deaths annually worldwide.
• Black carbon emissions are highest in low- and middle-income countries with half of all emissions coming from just five countries.
• Around 48% of all black carbon emissions are attributable to the residential sector, particularly from the use of dirty cooking fuels.
• Targeted solutions across the residential, transportation, and industrial sectors in high-emitting regions would dramatically reduce black carbon emissions while preventing millions of premature deaths and saving trillions of dollars per year. 

Black carbon, which largely results from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and organic matter used for cooking, transportation, industrial production, and more, is a major pollutant and greenhouse gas with a short-term warming potential up to 1,500 times greater than carbon dioxide. 

Worldwide, black carbon is responsible for millions of premature deaths annually, increasing the risk of cardiovascular, respiratory, and other diseases. This results in the loss of trillions of US dollars globally in economic productivity each year. These impacts are felt most acutely in low- and middle-income countries, which still rely heavily on unclean fuels, such as wood, for heating, cooking, and energy production. 

In the groundbreaking report, Project Drawdown researchers highlight global hotspots and sources of black carbon across geographies providing policymakers and funders with the best insight yet into what solutions, deployed where, will result in the greatest emissions reductions.

Key Report Takeaways: 

• For the average person in the U.S., personal banking may constitute a large source of indirect greenhouse gas emissions 
• Every US$1,000 a person has in savings is roughly equivalent to the direct emissions generated by flying from New York to Seattle every year 
• Eleven of the largest U.S.-based banks lend around 19.4% on average – and as high as 30% – of their portfolios to carbon-intensive industries 
• Moving from a carbon-intensive bank to a climate-responsible bank could reduce the personal banking emissions of an average U.S.-based person by 76%
• Switching banks can be a powerful, relatively easy, and affordable climate action

In a report published this week, Project Drawdown, in collaboration with Topo Finance, reveals how personal banking decisions in the United States can undermine or accelerate individual climate action. By comparing the estimated financed emissions of a sample of carbon-intensive banks and climate-responsible banks, the report finds that where a person stores their money is one of the most important consumer decisions they can make related to their greenhouse gas emissions. 

“Around 95% of U.S.-based adults have money in a checking or savings account which banks then use to finance or invest across the economy,” says Jamie Alexander, who co-authored the report and is the director of Drawdown Labs, Project Drawdown’s private sector testing ground for scaling climate solutions. “It may come as a surprise to many of those people that, depending on where they bank, as much as 30% of their hard-earned money could be funding the carbon-intensive industries most responsible for climate change.” 

Using newly available data, the report estimates that across the 11 largest U.S.-based banks, around 19.4% on average and as high as 30% of their portfolios – which includes money from personal banking – were lent to carbon-intensive sectors in 2022, including energy production, utilities, mining, and large-scale manufacturing.

According to the report, this means that every US$1,000 a person has in savings is roughly equivalent to the direct emissions generated by flying from New York to Seattle every year. By switching to a climate-responsible bank, however, the annual banking emissions for the average U.S.-based adult could be reduced by 76%.

This past year was marked by evolution: We refined the goals and strategies of Drawdown Labs to best harness our superpowers as we successfully scale climate action in the private sector. We brought to life new initiatives and resources for funders, employees, and the general public. But through it all, we continued to lead the way on climate solutions. 

Read on to see what we’ve been up to! (For a recap on previous efforts, see our 2022 year in review.)

We grew the Drawdown Business Coalition.

Earlier this year, Ted Otte joined Project Drawdown as senior manager of Drawdown Labs focused on growing the Drawdown Business Coalition and accelerating corporate climate leadership. These efforts were resoundingly successful as we:

• welcomed four new businesses – OLIPOP, Sodexo, Tradewater, and Wana Brands – and a new Implementation Partner – Carbon Collective – to the Drawdown Business Coalition
• benchmarked progress and supported member companies in aligning with the Drawdown-Aligned Business Framework to uncover bright spots and blockers to scaling solutions across our network
• engaged current business leaders on “emergency brake solutions,” educated hundreds of next-generation climate leaders through ClimateCAP, and served as a trusted advisor to our member companies on crucial sustainability decisions
• created the foundation for cross-coalition convenings to bring corporate and investor communities together in service of accelerating climate solutions in the world.

We released a groundbreaking report on the link between banking practices and climate. 

In December, we published innovative research showing that where you bank is one of the most important consumer decisions you make, and how you engage your bank is a powerful lever to catalyze systemic change. The landmark report shows how embracing climate-responsible personal banking can help the world address climate change – and getting started is relatively easy, accessible, and affordable.

We made a splash in the media and beyond. 

We garnered dozens of earned media appearances and reached thousands of people directly through in-person events, including a testimony at the Minnesota House of Representatives, a strong presence at Climate Week NYC, and a powerful Drawdown Ignite webinar. Enjoy some select highlights below:

• News: Jamie Beck Alexander, director of Drawdown Labs, appeared on Al Jazeera to discuss climate finance and in Canary Media on climate-friendly investing. 
• Podcasts: Jamie was a guest on DEGREES to show that any job can be green, and Aiyana Bodi, Drawdown Labs senior associate, appeared on Brown Girl Green to discuss business climate accountability.
• Panels: Jamie and Aiyana appeared on the Earth Day virtual stage hosted by Earth Day Initiative and March for Science New York City.
• Presentations: The Drawdown Labs team led over a dozen presentations and workshops for corporate decision-makers and climate-activated employees.
• Thought leadership: Jamie gave a boundary-pushing talk on the future of capitalism and climate change to almost 800 attendees in a Drawdown Ignite webinar; Ted shared his personal experience making the jump from tech to climate.

We helped businesses take elevated climate action. 

We aggregated business influence for policy advocacy, engaged media creators, and continued to push for a higher standard of corporate climate action. In 2023, we:

• coordinated a group of corporations on a letter praising the U.S. Postal Service for committing to exclusively purchase EVs starting in 2026;
• on the anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act – the largest investment in climate ever made in the United States – we supported Climate Power's #MadeByUs campaign, in which 70+ clean energy business leaders (including Business Coalition partners Trane Technologies and Seneca Solar) met with members of the Biden administration in a show of support for protecting federal investments in clean energy; 
• we participated in a steering committee alongside Count Us In, Unilever, Rare, Futerra, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and others to educate and model sustainable behaviors for thousands of social media creators to influence millions across their collective audiences; and
• we worked with a graduate student at Lund University to create a new typology based on the Drawdown-Aligned Business Framework to analyze U.S. companies’ progress on climate action, the findings of which suggest companies have more work to do on truly transformational measures. 

We helped employees across job functions take climate action. 

We continued the “every job is a climate job” drumbeat and created more resources for employee climate advocates:

• We released three new Job Function Action Guides for product managers, product designers, and engineers, with tangible actions to support them in becoming climate leaders, advocates, and practitioners within their teams and companies.
• The Job Function Action Guides were embedded into LinkedIn's new Sustainability Resource Hub, which is open to their 900 million member community.
• We worked closely with Google to release their Sustainability Marketing Playbook, helping identify and scale the most effective sustainability actions and strategies for marketers.
• Working alongside major game developers and the United Nations Environment Programme, we released A Drawdown-Aligned Framework for the Gaming Industry to show how software companies and their employees can help solve climate change.
• Climate Solutions at Work continued to be “the essential guide” on taking climate action in the workplace for sustainability professionals and other climate-concerned employees. Over 1,000 people downloaded it this year, including executive recruiters, heads of operations, and directors of sustainability, who incorporated it into employee trainings.

We launched the Drawdown Capital Coalition. 

We brought on Hannah Henkin to manage the Drawdown Capital Coalition. The Capital Coalition is a new program that aims to help funders align their investments with high-impact climate action and ultimately guide billions of dollars of private capital toward strategic, science-based climate solutions. The program will convene and engage a select group of solutions-oriented funders – philanthropists, impact investors, venture capitalists, financial advisors, and others – to advance effective climate funding together. While this is a new initiative – stay tuned for our formal public launch in 2024 – we’ve already had an influence:

• We examined patterns of climate funding from philanthropy, venture capital, and United States federal spending and identified areas of misalignment with the most urgently needed climate solutions.
• From conversations with family foundations to impact investors, we guided hundreds of funders to develop portfolios that essentially allocate billions of dollars to key climate solutions. (Additionally, philanthropists and investors have independently leveraged our Solutions Library and the Drawdown Roadmap to inform their funding strategies.)
• We established early memberships and founding partnerships, including with the Bentley Environmental Foundation, Spectrum Impact, Toniic, Wana Brands Foundation, and others. 
• We soft-launched the initiative on the main stages at TED Countdown, Climate Week NYC, and the GreenBiz VERGE Conference.
• We led a Climate Week NYC panel on Smarter Investing & Philanthropy with leaders across the funding space and dove deeper with a public webinar on the same topic.

We brought more science to the private sector. 

We grew our scientific expertise, rounding out our new science team with seven world-class scientists who will work with our private sector network and build new tools to accelerate solutions:

• We launched the Drawdown Roadmap, a science-based strategy for accelerating climate solutions. The five-part video series points to which climate actions we should prioritize to make the most of our efforts to stop climate change. The Roadmap for Business video specifically explores how businesses can leverage their clout and employee power to help the world address climate change.
• We initiated essential research by the science team to inform opportunities for the private sector to scale the most effective solutions, including upcoming sector-specific roadmaps with an emphasis on “emergency brake solutions.”

Looking ahead to 2024, we’re excited to continue growing our business and funder networks and help them identify and direct resources toward the most effective solutions to the climate crisis. In coordination with our science team, we’ll bring together our Capital Coalition and Business Coalition members to drive collaboration and leadership on scaling climate solutions with strong co-benefits for nature, human health, well-being, and equity.

Finally, we’d like to thank YOU for looking to us as a climate solutions resource! Our work is possible – and impactful – because of all of the climate-concerned corporate leaders, funders, and employees compelled to make a difference. We hope you will consider supporting our work, and if you’ve used any of our resources to take climate action we would love to hear about it.

To keep up with our work, check out Project Drawdown’s YouTube channel and sign up for our newsletter.