The Earth Bill
A Lever for the U.S. to meet its Paris Climate Commitments
About the Earth Bill
The Earth Bill Network, an open association of activists, organizations and coalitions, has drafted a proposal for a radical shift in U.S. Domestic policy to respond to the climate crisis. The bill, introduced recently in the U.S. Congress, aims “To ensure by 2030 the transition to
100% renewable electricity in utilities,
zero-emission vehicles from manufacturers, and
regenerative agriculture by publicly-traded land and livestock corporations
in order to stop U.S. greenhouse gas pollution and thereby avert 1.5 degree warming in line with the Paris Accord”.
RegenIntel’s Contribution
The Earth Bill Network has asked Regenerative Intelligence Public Benefit LLC, a new venture from experts on climate solutions, to assess the climate impacts of their proposals on the US domestic greenhouse gas emissions and on its ability to meet its climate targets. Using a scenario-based approach, we performed an analysis and produced the report below.
The Report
Key Insights
Our analysis of the Earth Bill shows that there is significant potential for the US to reduce its greenhouse emissions beyond the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The proposed interventions of the Earth Bill can cause the U.S. to achieve a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by an additional 41% by 2030, and 51% by 2050 compared to 2005 levels.
These reductions include roughly 15% and 11% from nature-based sequestration in 2030 and 2050 respectively. This represents 100% adoption of regenerative agriculture in cropland and grassland in the US (1.19 billion acres).
The U.S. emissions have been trending down since 2005, but not fast enough to meet climate targets or avoid catastrophic warming.
The 2021 emissions were already 17% lower than 2005.
The reference projection indicates a further reduction of 4% by 2030 and 6% by 2050.
Published estimates of the impact of other climate policies, like the IRA clean energy incentives, indicate that they can help the U.S. achieve an additional 9% reduction by 2030, much of which overlaps with, and is made more certain by, pollution-source mandates in the Earth Bill.
In summary, in addition to the current policies, the emissions reduction due to The Earth Bill (compared to 2005) are:
41% + 17% + 4% = 62% by 2030
51% + 17% + 6% = 74% by 2050
Specifically, the bill would reduce the U.S. GHG emissions from 5,983 MMT CO2-eq (2022) to 2,494 MMT CO2-eq (2030) and to 1,735 MMT CO2-eq (2050).
Fig.1: U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Pathways to 2050
About Authors
Mamta Mehra, PhD
Mamta Mehra is a Co-Founder of RegenIntel and is an expert on nature-based solutions. She has led the land and food sector research and modeling as a Senior Fellow at Project Drawdown from 2015-2021; and served as the Research Director at the Global Council for Science and the Environment. She has been invited as a keynote speaker at many international forums and is on the advisory board of the Global Evergreening Alliance, Global Returns Project, and the Carbon Call initiatives. Mamta holds a PhD in environmental science and has more than a decade of experience on climate change adaptation and mitigation issues from local to global scale.
The Earth Bill with Regenerative Agricultural initiatives helps the U.S. achieve Paris Agreement Targets.
Ryan F Allard, PhD
Ryan Allard is a Lead Consultant and Co-founder at RegenIntel where he brings over a decade experience in technical modeling work with half focused on climate technologies and emissions, and has also advised the local and national government in Trinidad and Tobago on broad sustainability issues. Ryan, as Senior Fellow and Senior Data Modeler at Project Drawdown, led teams of transportation and built environment researchers to estimate the potential climate impact of solutions in those sectors. Ryan is a company founder, TEDx speaker, researcher, business advisor, and, in a former life, financial trader. He is a regular member of national environmental, sustainability, and economic development committees in Trinidad and Tobago and also sits on the board of multiple civil society groups in the country. Ryan has a PhD in transportation systems from Técnico Lisboa in Portugal and has a BSc in Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering from MIT.
America sparked a global revolution with the mass production of cars and an extensive highway system to drive them on. It can spark another one, this time with less pollution, with electric cars driven by the Earth Bill.
João Pedro Gouveia, PhD
João Pedro is a Co-Founder of RegenIntel and is an expert on energy system solutions. João has led Project Drawdown’s research team working on energy systems and solutions as a Senior Fellow from 2016-2020. João Pedro is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research (CENSE) and Invited Professor at NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon. He serves on the advisory board of several EU projects, is a prolific speaker on national and international stages, and is regularly seen on diverse media channels as an invited speaker. João Pedro has a Ph.D. in Climate Change and Sustainable Development Policies from FCT-NOVA University of Lisbon.
The ambitious Earth Bill targets would put the U.S. on the forefront of climate action and the energy transition.
Chad Frischmann
Chad Frischmann is the CEO and Founder of RegenIntel, and is the co-creator of Project Drawdown, co-author of the book Drawdown, and the architect and lead researcher of the Drawdown Solutions Framework, the engine behind the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to solve global warming. He trained and led a team of over 100 researchers as part of the Drawdown Fellowship program he designed, and worked with a global ecosystem of partners and leaders to collectively aggregate the science and data behind the most substantive solutions for people and the planet. Chad is also a renowned steward of planetary change, speaking at hundreds of major events globally; his TED talk has over 2.3m views.
Implementing the Earth Bill would be a game-changer for the planet, and set the stage for the U.S. to lead the global economy of the future.
About RegenIntel
Regenerative Intelligence (RegenIntel) is a public benefit company with the mission to activate humanity to become a planet-positive species. RegenIntel is composed of leading system thinkers and doers creating a regenerative economy and society that places human and planetary well-being at the heart of our collective future.
We recruit, train and equip a global network of planetary-grade solutionists to be at the forefront of supporting this transition. Working with governments, cities, companies, NGOs, investors and influencers, RegenIntel and its network offer strategic insights, roadmaps, and regenerative development pathways (RDPs) for clients wanting to become regenerative leaders of tomorrow, today. We analyze the climate, social, financial, and ecological impacts of solutions at-scale and develop strategies that are aligned with nature and provide the widest possible range of cascading benefits to all life.
