Biodiversity, especially animal species, plays a critical but often overlooked role in carbon dioxide capture and storage.

To meet global climate targets, the world must not only reduce emissions to net zero, but also remove legacy carbon that has accumulated in the atmosphere since the industrial era.

By rewilding key wildlife species, ecosystems can increase their capacity to absorb and store billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

This approach is known as Animating the Carbon Cycle (ACC). It is an emerging science and policy framework showing how nature recovery, wildlife restoration, and ecosystem protection can become credible climate solutions.

How Wild Animals Support Climate Solutions

Wild animals help natural systems fight climate change by:

  • Protecting stored carbon and preventing it from escaping into the atmosphere
  • Helping ecosystems absorb and store more CO2 in soils and sediments
  • Supporting healthier, more balanced ecosystems
  • Strengthening biodiversity while improving climate resilience

A Two-Fold Climate Strategy

1. Radically Cut Emissions

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions remains essential. Cleaner energy, improved infrastructure, and better climate policies are all necessary to limit future warming.

2. Remove Legacy Carbon

Rewilding can help remove historic carbon dioxide already present in the atmosphere by restoring wildlife populations and the ecosystems they help maintain.

Healthy Ecosystems Draw Down Carbon

Healthy ecosystems, with all their animals, can draw down vast amounts of carbon. From whales and wildebeest to wolves, sea otters, and bison, wildlife can influence carbon storage through grazing, nutrient cycling, seed dispersal, soil health, and food-web balance.

Watch the video: Healthy ecosystems, with all their animals, draw down vast amounts of carbon

The Yale/GRA ACC Model

The Yale School of the Environment and the Global Rewilding Alliance have developed the Yale/GRA ACC Model to estimate the positive climate impact of restoring and protecting wildlife populations.

By calculating legacy carbon dioxide stored and captured through wildlife recovery, the model helps guide conservation planning, climate investment, and ecosystem restoration.

Why This Matters

Rewilding wildlife to near-historic levels offers a nature-based response to the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and climate anxiety. It shows that animals are not just passengers in ecosystems — they are active drivers of climate and biodiversity recovery.

Source: Animating the Carbon Cycle