Reports and publications

The goal was ambitious: use satellite technology to help save rapidly vanishing grasslands, introduce rare native species, lock tons of carbon in the soil and recruit a multinational company to help pay for it.

For decades, and in partnership with many other groups, Environmental Defense Fund has championed market-based solutions to environmental problems. Combining world-class analytical resources with a practical, hands-on approach, EDF has a strong track record designing and implementing markets at the international, national, state and provincial, and city levels. This timeline highlights market-based successes that EDF had a particular hand in. 

Twenty U.S. states and the District of Columbia have set bold goals to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. This fact sheet highlights how well-designed carbon markets are critical tools in the policy toolbox to put states on track to meet their climate targets at low cost.

In this white paper, we quantify the potential global risk of a large climate impact from N2O emissions from rice paddies globally through a geospatial extrapolation.

Rice is a critical global crop: it provides livelihood to 150 million households and is a staple for half of humanity. 

As tomato harvest hits full capacity and the almond harvest begins to ramp up, global leaders will gather in San Francisco this month to promote continued action on climate change. While Silicon Valley seeks the spotlight, it is the more humble Central Valley that solidifies California’s leadership as one of the world’s most climate-smart economies.

This report analyzes the impact of conservation on farm budgets with three in-depth case studies. 

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement outlines ways that countries can voluntarily cooperate to fight climate change, generate investment, and achieve sustainable development. The various cooperation pathways under Article 6 have the potential to serve as “rocket boosters” that help countries go faster and farther towards a safe climate future, but only if countries design them properly at this year’s crucial COP negotiations in Poland.

This decision tree outlines a hypothetical scenario in order order to illustrate how a Groundwater Sustainability Agency would make pumping allocations consistent with groundwater rights law.