In fall 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $421 million Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) to the Atlantic Conservation Coalition to protect and restore high-carbon coastal habitats, peatlands, and forested land. 

The coalition—Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and The Nature Conservancy—is partnering with the Nicholas Institute’s Nature Activation Hub on this effort. The Nature Activation Hub will:

	Lead the tracking and reporting of project benefits for the Atlantic Conservation Coalition, using a public-facing dashboard
	Assist North Carolina State Parks and the North Carolina Coastal Federation in prioritizing projects related to state park land acquisitions and coastal habitat resilience

The Nature Activation Hub has been involved in North Carolina’s efforts to utilize natural and working lands as an important aspect of the state’s climate solutions for many years. This work includes:

• Making natural and working lands data accessible through online dashboards and story maps
• Creating planning tools with Conservation Trust for North Carolina to help organizations consider a broad range of conservation benefits
• Conducting research to map and model the effects of sea level rise on coastal habitats and associated carbon stocks in North Carolina and five other Atlantic coast states
• Contributing to the natural and working lands sections of the state’s Priority Climate Action Plan, which identified measures eligible for the CPRG implementation grant