Climate debates often frame individual behaviour and systems change as distinct pathways to action. We suggest that social change arises from individuals’ agency within their roles in societal systems, and that this agency should be actively leveraged to achieve meaningful climate change mitigation.
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Nature
Leveraging agency for climate change mitigation | Nature Climate Change
Abatify Summary
Nature & Climate Perspective
**Empowering local community agency is critical to securing long-term ecological integrity and robust carbon sequestration in nature-based projects. **
- Community-led agency directly enhances LULUCF outcomes by aligning local economic incentives with biodiversity conservation and ecosystem resilience.
- Fostering agency in coastal communities accelerates the protection and restoration of Blue Carbon ecosystems, ensuring higher permanence and lower leakage risk.
- Without community agency and free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), nature-based carbon sinks are highly vulnerable to reversals, violating ICVCM CCP requirements for permanence.
Market & Policy Outlook
**Systemic agency enables corporate and sovereign actors to transition from passive compliance to proactive, high-integrity climate action under global regulatory frameworks. **
- Leveraging corporate agency drives the adoption of science-based targets (SBTi) and the systematic reduction of Scope 3 upstream and downstream emissions.
- Sovereign agency under Article 6.2 and 6.4 allows developing nations to negotiate high-value ITMOs, establishing robust national registries that prevent double counting.
- Aligning institutional agency with ICVCM CCPs shifts market demand toward high-quality, transparent carbon credits, stabilizing pricing and increasing financial liquidity for premium projects.
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