(188b) Adding a Spatial Dimension to Nature Based Solutions in Carbon Neutrality Planning through the Optimization of Ecological Co-Benefits

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasize the need for engineering and technology development to approach sustainability holistically, including human health and well-being. This requires expanding existing approaches for carbon mitigation to consider co-benefits and question unintentional consequences in our climate actions. In pursuit of this goal, we present a computational design approach for techno-ecological systems that includes ecosystem co-services in the pursuit of carbon neutrality, and even carbon positivity. Specifically, we consider the health impacts of air quality regulation provided by land-related responses. Our approach builds upon our past research on optimization-based approaches for long-term climate action plans and spatially-explicit industrial site design, proposing a new spatially-explicit operationalization framework for including ecological responses in action-based climate plans. This framework considers health risk reductions and identifies where and when land-based solutions should be implemented, while leaving the "how" to local ecological experts and land management teams.

The spatial guidance for prioritizing land-based projects provided by this framework enables the identification of areas where pollutant exposure can be reduced and health-related incidences, like hospitalizations and mortality, can be minimized. When these projects should be implemented is dependent on budget constraints and ecological dynamics. We provide a practical case study and results that show the comparison between our previous spatially-explicit approach, which maximized the physical uptake of pollutants and disregarded climate regulation, and our co-benefit approach, which minimizes health risks associated with pollutant exposure and values the benefit of carbon sequestration. The health risk assessments focus on the impacts of criteria air pollutants ozone (O3) and particulate matter less than 2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5).

Our results display the significance of including population data into techno-ecological and sustainable design methodologies. The inclusion of spatially-explicit health impact assessments in the design approach results in a 77% increase in social economic benefits with only a 6% increase in private costs to industry compared to our previous approach focused only on the physical uptake of ecosystems. The new insight from this approach results in a higher economic value for ecosystem services, promoting investments in restoration, and an increased focus on understanding the health impacts on neighboring populations around industrial sites.

Overall, our work aims to build upon previous research to provide a framework that addresses both land-based climate action and local public health simultaneously. We hope that this approach will lead to better decision-making and investment in land-based projects that not only address climate change but provide local benefits to ecosystems and communities. Although this approach does not address the challenges of measuring, monitoring, and reporting additional carbon sequestration, it does acknowledge improved return of investment on high transaction costs that are often associated with land-based responses. Further research can explore the use of our framework in other locations, including those with different socioeconomic and environmental characteristics. Additionally, the framework can be extended to include other co-benefits, such as biodiversity conservation and water quality improvements, and to assess the potential trade-offs between these co-benefits.