Climate mitigation potential of natural climate solutions and clean energy on The Nature Conservancy properties in California, USA

wetland had the greatest average reduction potential (47,277 MTCO2e year –1) followed by cover cropping (9,624 MTCO2e year –1). On all conservation easement properties together, cultivated to managed wetland (7,958 MTCO2e year –1) was the activity with the greatest reduction potential followed by riparian restoration (5,880 MTCO2e year –1). The area avail- able for these three NCS activities was more than the other activities. Cultivated to managed wetland restoration and cover cropping covered 48% and 45% respectively of the total area identified for NCS on fee properties. On conservation easements the area identified for NCS was distributed more evenly across different activities: cover cropping (24%), cultivated to man- aged wetland (20%), riparian restoration (18%), pasture to managed wetland (13%), and the other NCS were less than 10% of the total area. One fee owned property, Staten Island, had the largest climate mitigation potential for res- toration, agricultural management, and clean energy transition (55,328 MTCO2e year –1), but the identified NCS would overlap in space. The reduction potential at the 3,723-ha property included four activities: Cover cropping, cultivated to managed wetland restoration, rice best management practices, and clean energy transition. Wetland restoration was identified for 3,596 ha, almost the entire property, which would leave less area for cover cropping and rice Fig 3. CO2e reduction potential of NCS activities and clean energy on The Nature Conservancy’s conservation easements,

fee-owned properties, and ongoing projects in California. The largest blue circle highlights the CO2e reduction occurring at the Garcia River Forest property. Staten Island shows ongoing CO2e reduction from conversion of corn to rice and wetland restoration (blue) inside the potential CO2e reduction (green) if most of the property was cover cropped only. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0311195.g003 PLOS ONE Climate mitigation potential of natural climate solutions and clean energy: The nature conservancy, California PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0311195 October 21, 2024 8 / 14