Duke community members, you’re invited to connect with Duke alumna Alison Taylor, A.B.’83, the university’s newest Climate Leader in Residence. Taylor—who majored in biology at Duke—is chief sustainability officer for ADM, a global leader in innovative solutions from nature, and is one of the longest-tenured chief sustainability officers in the country. She previously worked in policy on Capitol Hill for more than a dozen years.

Join us for coffee and a light breakfast followed by a one-hour panel discussion, moderated by executive in residence Elizabeth Losos, examining opportunities and obstacles involved in maximizing the future potential of debt-for-nature swaps. Afterward, connect with speakers and attendees at a networking reception.

Are you a Duke University alum with plans (or potential plans) to attend Climate Week NYC (September 22-29) or the UNFCCC’s Conference of Parties (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan (November 11-22)? Duke University experts will again take part in these important convenings alongside climate thought leaders and decision-makers from across the world—and we are eager to connect with other Duke community members who will be there.

Join this virtual town hall to hear about the Duke community’s plans for these events. Hosted by the Office of Climate and Sustainability and the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability.

One of the largest threats to biodiversity worldwide is development and associated land use change. A new law in England went into effect in early 2024, aiming to ensure that habitats for wildlife are left in a measurably better state than they were before development occurred.

Join this webinar to learn about how the law came to be, including the concept development, timeline, barriers, breakthroughs, and eventual implementation. Organized by the National Ecosystem Services Partnership (NESP) and Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC).

N-EWN's goal for this symposium is to provide partners (including Duke University) with an opportunity to learn about the innovative work of each organization, create stronger connections between partners, and facilitate collaboration on new projects. Register by Feb. 1 for a discounted Early Bird registration fee ($250 for faculty, staff, and other non-students; $125 for students).

Nicholas Institute experts Sara Mason, Lydia Olander, and Katie Warnell are participating in the National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration (NCER) this year. NCER is a premier gathering of ecosystem restoration professionals from across the country, featuring four days of presentations dedicated to both small and large scale ecosystem restoration. 

Earlier this year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) released a proposed rule that establishes updated agency specific procedures (ASPs) for how the Corps' Principles, Requirements, and Guidelines are implemented. In this informational webinar from the National Ecosystem Services Partnership, panelists will explore how and why the updated ASPs came to be, the implications of the ASP update for water resource projects, and how USACE project partners expect to be able to leverage the updated rule to better provide multibenefit projects.

Governments are beginning to promote and incentivize natural climate solutions as one of the important ways to address the climate crisis. The latest session of the Nature-Based Solutions: Current Issues webinar series will spotlight two such government programs in the United States—the Massachusetts Forests as Climate Solutions Initiative and the Regional Climate Protection Authority in Sonoma County, California.

Join the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (SE CASC) November 9 to learn more about cycle 3 of the SE CASC in an interactive, virtual open house. They will introduce the upcoming call for the Global Change Fellows program, discuss future research opportunities, and much more. Come learn about, and provide feedback on, research priorities for climate adaptation in the southeast!

The National Ecosystem Services Partnership (NESP) invites those interested in ecosystem services and nature-based solutions to a webinar on August 23. Attendees will hear from speakers involved in newly released White House draft guidance from the Executive Office of the President on accounting for ecosystems services in benefit-cost analysis.

This in-person panel event features four speakers who detail past examples and proposed concepts for financing nature-based solutions using green banks. The speakers also share insights about scaling up implementation of these types of financial mechanisms. Organized by the Nicholas Institute and the Environmental Policy Innovation Center.

The idea of the “blue economy” is compelling—and contested. On one hand, there is growing enthusiasm for using the oceans’ resources to grow economies and improve livelihoods while maintaining healthy marine ecosystems. On the other hand, the acceleration of ocean-based economic activity threatens to overwhelm increasingly vulnerable environments and communities. This is particularly important for small-scale fishing communities, which is likely the oceans’ largest source of livelihoods.

Conservation organizations and land trusts in North Carolina are increasingly focused on how their work can 1) contribute to humans’ and ecosystems’ resilience and adaptation to climate change and 2) directly mitigate climate change through carbon storage and sequestration.

In response, the Conservation Trust for North Carolina and the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke University have developed two online tools to help organizations to consider a broad suite of conservation benefits in their work in North Carolina.

In November, the Biden-Harris administration released a roadmap for unlocking the potential of nature-based solutions in the United States. In the fourth session of the Nature-Based Solutions: Current Issues webinar series, hear from two authors of the roadmap, as well as federal agency representatives.

US federal agencies use cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to make decisions about the types of infrastructure projects to implement. In the third session of the Nature-Based Solutions: Current Issues webinar series, experts working with the federal government discuss how these policies might be updated to enable more nature-based solutions projects.

Nicholas Institute experts will present some of their latest work and discuss the National Ecosystem Services Partnership during the ACES conference.

One of the major hurdles keeping NbS projects from scaling up is finding ways to pay for them. This session, the second of the Nature-based Solutions: Current Issues webinar series, highlights insights about various mechanisms that can be used to pay for NbS, including state and federal policies and programs, as well as finance tools.

Session one of the Nature-based Solutions: Current Issues webinar series focuses on assessing the costs and benefits of NbS. How can we account for all the benefits NbS provide? How do they compare to more traditional (gray infrastructure) solutions? What is the return on investment for NbS?