The Drawdown Ranking

I think I've harped on about the book Drawdown in a few earlier posts so today I'm finally going to start digging a little deeper into the solutions it proposes for averting a complete climate crisis.


First up - the ranking. At the back of the book, the authors have listed 82 solutions to our global warming problem. They're listed in order of the ones that will reduce the most carbon in the atmosphere. For those who are curious, here's the list:

  1. Refrigeration

  2. Wind Turbines (Onshore)

  3. Reduced Food Waste

  4. Plant-Rich Diet

  5. Tropical Forests

  6. Educating Girls

  7. Family Planning

  8. Solar Farms

  9. Silvopasture

  10. Rooftop Solar

  11. Regenerative Agriculture

  12. Temperate Forests

  13. Peatlands

  14. Tropical Staple Trees

  15. Afforestation

  16. Conservation Agriculture

  17. Tree Intercropping

  18. Geothermal

  19. Managed Grazing

  20. Nuclear

  21. Clean Cookstoves

  22. Wind Turbines (Offshore)

  23. Farmland Restoration

  24. Improved Rice Cultivation

  25. Concentrated Solar

  26. Electric Vehicles

  27. District Heating

  28. Multistrata Agroforestry

  29. Wave and Tidal

  30. Methane Disgesters (Large)

  31. Insulation

  32. Ships

  33. LED Lighting - Household

  34. Biomass

  35. Bamboo

  36. Alternative Cement

  37. Mass Transit

  38. Forest Protection

  39. Indigenous Peoples' Land Management

  40. Trucks

  41. Solar Water

  42. Heat Pumps

  43. Airplanes

  44. LED Lighting - Commercial

  45. Building Automation

  46. Water Saving - Home

  47. Bioplastic

  48. In-Stream Hydro

  49. Cars

  50. Cogeneration

  51. Perennial Biomass

  52. Coastal Wetlands

  53. System of Rice Intensification

  54. Walkable Cities

  55. Household Recycling

  56. Industrial Recycling

  57. Smart Thermostats

  58. Landfill Methane

  59. Bike Infrastructure

  60. Composting

  61. Smart Glass

  62. Women Smallholders

  63. Telepresence

  64. Methane Digesters (Small)

  65. Nutrient Management

  66. High-Speed Rail

  67. Farmland Irrigation

  68. Waste-to-Energy

  69. Electric Bikes

  70. Recycled Paper

  71. Water Distribution

  72. Biochar

  73. Green Roofs

  74. Trains

  75. Ridesharing

  76. Micro Wind

There are actually 6 more solutions listed after that, but they all have N/A as their total atmospheric CO2-EQ reduction (GT) so I haven't included them here. To find out what they are, you'll have to buy the book...


Over the next few posts, I'm going to elaborate a bit on the solutions that are most applicable to us as individual consumers and also have the most positive impact in terms of reducing carbon in the atmosphere. I'm most interested in the simple changes we can make that are actually effective, such as number 3 and 4... Reduced Food Waste and Plant-Rich Diet.


So you're telling me we can solve the climate crisis by cutting meat from our diet and not wasting food? Can it really be that simple?! Quick, go make a salad! And, er, use that veg that's about to go off...