Spark Climate Solutions

Warming-Induced Emissions Spark is working to accelerate scientific understanding and action on natural feedbacks and support work to quantify and identify measures to manage greenhouse gas emissions from warming natural syste...

Learn more about our new Warming-Induced Emissions program www.sparkclimate.org/warming-indu...

We’re proud to have a stellar team of Scientists at Spark leading this effort: @benpoulter.bsky.social‬, @drmonteverde.bsky.social & Phil Duffy.

Working with a great team of collaborators: Brian Buma, Sue Natali, & Rob Jackson

Thanks @jtemple.bsky.social for highlighting this important climate blind spot—and how Spark is working to shine a light on it

A lil scoop: @sparkclimate.bsky.social is launching a model intercomparison project to determine how tropical wetlands, thawing permafrost & other warming-driven emissions will accelerate climate change—and subtract from the carbon budget.

Researchers at EDF, Woodwell, Stanford will contribute.

Attempt to Repeal the Endangerment Finding for Greenhouse Gases Defies Science — Spark Climate Solutions Attempt to repeal the endangerment finding for greenhouse gases defies science

Spark Chief Scientist Phil Duffy—who led a major review of the evidence in 2019 while at @woodwellclimate.bsky.social—explains why the science supporting the endangerment finding is clearer now than ever www.sparkclimate.org/article/atte...

The EPA wants to overturn its own previous finding—which was based on overwhelming scientific evidence—that greenhouse gases harm public health and welfare.

A lot is at stake with this decision for people and the planet, and repealing it would fly in the face of truth.

What's Behind Record-Breaking Growth in Atmospheric Methane? — Spark Climate Solutions Rising warming-induced greenhouse gas emissions, including from warming wetlands, are an important climate blind spot.

New data show methane levels are rising faster than expected—beyond what human emissions alone can explain.

The likely cause? The Earth is getting hotter & nature is starting to emit more and absorb less

Spark’s Ben Poulter and Danie Potocek explain: www.sparkclimate.org/article/what...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Atmospheric methane in a changing climate: Will methane mitigation be enough?. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the we... Despite progress in policies to reduce anthropogenic emissions, atmospheric methane concentrations continue to rise. Even during periods like the COVID-19 lockdowns, when human activity sharply declin...

📅 Aug 13 | 9–10 AM PT | 12–1 PM ET | 4–5 PM UTC

🔗Register: zoom.us/webinar/regi...

📬Stay up to date on future events: www.sparkclimate.org/methane-remo...

We’re thrilled to be joined by:
• Brian Buma (envdefensefund.bsky.social‬ & ‪@colorado.edu)
• Arlene Fiore (@mit.edu)
• ‪@benpoulter.bsky.social‬ ‬(formerly NASA and White House OSTP, now at @sparkclimate.bsky.social imate.bsky.social���)

Join us August 13 to explore what’s driving today’s methane trends—and whether the climate response toolkit should expand to manage emerging risks, including the potential role of atmospheric methane removal.

These feedbacks and changing sink behavior aren’t well represented in models—but may grow stronger with warming.

Methane mitigation is still the top priority.
But we have to ask: will it be enough on its own?

The COVID lockdowns offer a clue: with industrial activity down, you’d expect methane to fall. Instead, it surged.

Scientists point to warming-driven wetland emissions + methane sink changes, possibly tied to reductions in NOₓ emissions.

Atmospheric methane is still rising fast—even as we make progress cutting human emissions.

What’s going on?

We break down the leading hypotheses here:
📖 www.sparkclimate.org/article/what...

Join our Aug 13 webinar for more 👇

We're hiring a Senior Program Officer for our Livestock Enteric Methane Mitigation program to play a pivotal role in advancing work to accelerate the development and adoption of scalable, science-based solutions to reduce methane emissions from livestock:

www.sparkclimate.org/jobs/senior-...

Super Pollutants: The Hidden Half of Global Warming About half of global warming is driven by pollutants that aren’t carbon dioxide. There are several of these “super pollutants” — so named because of their outsized ability to increase global temperatu...

Super pollutants are responsible for over half of today’s warming. Tackling them is the fastest way to slow climate change.

Spark’s Ilissa Ocko joined @climateone.org to talk through every super pollutant—how they work, where they come from, and why they matter.

www.climateone.org/audio/super-...

What this climate moment needs from philanthropy — Spark Climate Solutions We need both ambition and innovation to turn from the path we are on toward a safer, stable climate future. Philanthropy must step in and play a larger catalytic role on both fronts.

We need both ambition and innovation to turn from the path we are on toward a safer, stable climate future. We need to move the needle on all greenhouse sectors and gases, all at once, and fast. Gone are the days where we can pick and choose.

www.sparkclimate.org/article/what...

What this climate moment needs from philanthropy — Spark Climate Solutions We need both ambition and innovation to turn from the path we are on toward a safer, stable climate future. Philanthropy must step in and play a larger catalytic role on both fronts.

This is a critical climate moment—and the stakes are rising fast. Global warming broke 1.5°C last year, greenhouse gas emissions remain at record highs, and the impacts of climate change are prominent today and getting worse. Philanthropy has a crucial, and growing, role to play.

As we refine climate strategies, incorporating warming-induced emissions into carbon budgets and mitigation planning will be essential.

The large role of declining atmospheric sulfate deposition and rising CO2 concentrations in stimulating future wetland CH4 emissions About 8 to 15% more aggressive cuts to anthropogenic methane emissions are required to meet the 1.5° and 2°C warming goals.

Climate scientists have known that the pathway to reduce near-term warming rates is to bring down methane emissions while warming is unmasked by cutting sulfur emissions to improve health and air quality. This wetland dynamic will make that even more crucial, and challenging.

Read the full paper:

Reducing air pollution could increase methane emissions from wetlands – here’s what needs to be done Improved computer models shed light on how reducing sulphur emissions will inadvertently release methane from wetlands.

A new Science Advances study shows that decreases in sulfur emissions & rising CO2 levels could drive significant increases in methane emissions from wetlands. We may need even stricter targets for human-caused emissions targets to meet climate goals.

theconversation.com/reducing-air...

Development Director – Spark Climate Solutions

Know any fundraising strategists eager to contribute to climate action?

We're hiring a Development Director to support accelerating research, policy, and market-making progress in important, emerging climate areas, including methane and nitrous oxide.

www.sparkclimate.org/jobs/develop...

Garden Grants GHGR — Homeworld Collective Garden Grants: Funding to grow climate biotech

🌱 Garden Grants is back — this round focused on GHGR.

Homeworld Collective is excited to launch our second Garden Grants program, offering $50k-$150k grants (up to $1M total) to de-risk innovative ideas intersecting biotechnology and GHGR.

📌 Learn more: www.homeworld.bio/grants-green...

Including and quantifying methane mitigation in NDCs is key to a better climate outcome Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)—national pledges to reduce emissions made every 5 years—are central to the Paris Agreement and have been an important focus of national and international...

This is a critically important opportunity to increase overall mitigation ambition, to deliver reduced near-term warming, and to obtain important societal co-benefits.

www.ccacoalition.org/news/includi...

Including and quantifying methane mitigation in NDCs is key to a better climate outcome Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)—national pledges to reduce emissions made every 5 years—are central to the Paris Agreement and have been an important focus of national and international...

We call upon nations to include all GHGs in the next NDCs and specify additional ambitious quantitative contributions from methane and other non-CO2 gasses. www.ccacoalition.org/news/includi...

3️⃣ Scenarios that are defined only in terms of CO2e-100 reductions without specifying contributions from individual gases are consistent with a wide range of temperature outcomes, and therefore do not allow reliable assessments of future societal risks.

2️⃣ Within the context of a given CO2e-100 scenario, ambitious methane mitigation reduces near-term and end-of-century warming significantly more than weak or no methane mitigation does.

Three key messages:
1️⃣ NDCs and net zero goals that cover only carbon dioxide emissions, without mitigating other climate pollutants, allow significant warming and therefore open the door to higher levels of societal risks.

Including and quantifying methane mitigation in NDCs is key to a better climate outcome Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)—national pledges to reduce emissions made every 5 years—are central to the Paris Agreement and have been an important focus of national and international...

Not all targets are made the same. New analysis shows that even within the same CO₂e-100 reduction scenario — such as from NDCs — there is major variability in climate outcome based on the mix of assumed carbon dioxide and methane emissions reductions. www.ccacoalition.org/news/includi...