Head of Biosphere Science @Isometric_HQ | 2017 US-Ireland Alliance Scholar 🇮🇪 | 2015 Goldwater Scholar🔬| AMDG CX, CXV 🏳️🌈
Washington, DC
Joined December 2018
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Exciting news from @Isometric_HQ! 🌳 We’ve just released our draft protocol for Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) via Improved Forest Management (IFM), along with a new module for Deferred Harvest on Smallholder Lands (DHSL). This is our second nature-based CDR protocol, building on our Reforestation work.
IFM enhances existing forests to boost carbon storage through activities like selective harvesting, faster tree growth, and smart fire/pest management. It not only removes more CO2 but also supports biodiversity, protects endangered species, builds climate resilience, and creates sustainable jobs for communities—all while ensuring access to timber and forest products.
Our approach is science-first: Rigorous MRV with LiDAR, remote sensing, and field monitoring; dynamic baselines comparing to similar reference forests; mandatory native species; and no commercial plantations or monocultures.
The DHSL module tackles smallholder challenges head-on, enabling deferred harvesting for extra carbon storage with economic viability. It includes tech-enabled monitoring to cut costs and guaranteed revenue-sharing based on typical harvest ages, with a conservative 50-year durability.
Developed in line with the Isometric Standard by our Science Team and 300+ experts in our Science Network. Huge thanks to Renoster for their feedback—they’re the first supplier signed up to issue credits under this!
Public consultation is open until October 17—buyers, suppliers, scientists, we’d love your input. Dive into the details here: isometric.com/writing-articl…
Let’s scale high-integrity nature-based solutions! #CarbonRemoval #IFM #ClimateAction
Winnie is one of the most courageous and inspirational woman I’ve had the honor of getting to know — a testament to the resilience of goodness. A thread worth reading
Christopher Kilner, PhD retweeted
Ahead of #COP30, let's make sense of climate change - together.
Introducing #ClimateCounts 🌏
@UNDP breaks down the scale of the challenge and the opportunities for action.
🟰 30 science-based facts
🟰 Countless reasons to act
Explore here: go.undp.org/ClimateCounts
Visited Killarney today and was struck how this part of Ireland used to be nearly all Oak woodland.
It would be be great to see more native reforestation projects 🌳 in Ireland 🇮🇪
Maybe a place to expand @yishan?
Christopher Kilner, PhD retweeted
Planting trees is great, but it's not enough to fight climate change.
Carbon markets let farmers earn money by planting new trees and selling "carbon credits" to companies and governments looking to offset their emissions. For coffee farmers, this can be a lifeline when coffee prices drop.
But current carbon credit rules don't reward farmers for keeping their existing forests, just for planting new trees. New research from the Smithsonian warns this could lead to farmers cutting down their old trees (releasing carbon into the atmosphere) just to plant new ones that qualify for credits.
In a study published today, scientists show that even if every coffee farm planted new trees, it still wouldn't make up for the carbon released by clearing mature forests.
“To be clear, planting shade trees on monoculture coffee farms is a positive step, but our findings show tree planting alone can’t make up for what you lose when you remove mature shade trees," said Smithsonian ecologist Ruth Bennett.
Currently, the Smithsonian's Bird Friendly coffee certification is the only program for farmers who protect existing forests. To enact real change, carbon markets need to create similar incentives to preserve mature forests and make them accessible to small farmers.
Learn more:
s.si.edu/4mcCuO8
Photo credit: Roshan Patel, Smithsonian
ALT Aerial photo of a shade-grown coffee farm. Large shade trees loom over smaller coffee plants.
Christopher Kilner, PhD retweeted
The Trump Administration is attempting to silence climate scientists and sideline climate science. But the American people are facing the rapidly worsening reality of the climate crisis – from deadly tornadoes and monster hurricanes to giant “rain bombs” and massive floods to devastating droughts and apocalyptic fires. Dismantling the National Climate Assessment doesn’t make America great – it is reckless and leaves us unprepared for the impacts of the climate crisis that continue to grow more severe.
Christopher Kilner, PhD retweeted
@living_carbon has selected Isometric as the registry for a landmark 1.4 million-tonne reforestation offtake agreement with @Microsoft.
“The term “acidification” may indeed be used by scientists to describe any drop in pH level…” Yes, because you use the term acidity whenever referring to pH and alkalinity whenever referring to pOH. pH + pOH = 14. Thus less basic = more acidic.
Sit down. 🪑
Given that your formal educational background isn't in any scientific discipline, you might not be familiar with basic chemistry. 🧪
So, it's time for you to learn some. 📚
In our CHEM 111 course, you learn that just because a substance becomes less alkaline doesn't make it more acidic. The term “acidification” may indeed be used by scientists to describe any drop in pH level, but it is a misnomer, and it is one that I have a big problem with.
A neutral pH is 7. Anything higher than that is basic or alkaline. Anything lower than that is acidic. The open ocean has a pH of 8.1 on average (but varies between 7.8 and 8.3 according to the IPCC). Thus, the ocean is not acidic. It is alkaline. Since the scale is logarithmic, that means the ocean is 12.6 times more alkaline than a neutral substance (pH = 7).
🔗archive.ipcc.ch/publications…
Over the last 200 years, the average ocean pH has declined by 0.1 units. And, even under the worst-case emissions scenario (e.g., the IPCC's SSP5-8.5 socioeconomic pathway), ocean pH isn't expected to drop below 7.8. So, it is completely dishonest to present to a lay audience that any reduction in ocean alkalinity means that the oceans are turning to acid.
Oceans are not acidifying. 🌊
What is actually occurring is that they are undergoing a process called neutralization. But, “acidification” sounds scarier than saying that the ocean is becoming slightly less basic or alkaline, and it is used to frighten young people into thinking that corals will dissolve if we don't rapidly cut our carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 or so.
The oceans are lined with alkali rocks, mainly basalt and limestone, which sequester carbon dioxide and buffer the oceans, keeping the pH from changing too significantly. Had climate alarmists completed basic chemistry and geology, they might understand that it is a grossly exaggerated problem.
Now, that's not to say coral ecosystems aren't at all threatened by human activities. 🪸
We do, but primarily though tourism. 🤿
A growing body of evidence suggests that chemicals (e.g., oxybenzone, octinoxate, avobenzone and homosalate) in non-mineral-based sunscreens have triggered coral bleaching episodes. When snorkelers swim in reefs, the sunscreen washes off, which then causes the corals to come into contact with many of those chemicals.
This has been notably studied at the reef in Akumal located in Quintana Roo, Mexico. 🇲🇽
🔗link.springer.com/article/10…
What is interesting about this reef is that while it is in poor health, the reef in Cozumel just 20 miles away is doing fine.
🚨Science Hiring! 🚨
Isometric built the most rigorous, science-driven Reforestation Protocol in the industry. Now, we’re growing our Forestry team to scale this impact.
If you have forest #CarbonRemoval or #RemoteSensing expertise, let’s talk! 🌳
🔗: jobs.ashbyhq.com/isometric/f…
Christopher Kilner, PhD retweeted
1/ Isometric has been conditionally approved by @icao as an issuer of CORSIA Eligible Emissions Units. CORSIA is an aviation industry program that aims to reduce emissions and “offset the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that cannot be reduced…with emissions units".
🌍 1/ I’ve officially started @Isometric_HQ as their first forestry-focused Carbon Removal Scientist, joining a team dedicated to scaling transparent, tech-enabled carbon removal (CDR) solutions. Here’s why Isometric is raising the bar on climate action⬇️ isometric.com
5/ Why does this matter? Effective CDR is crucial for mitigating climate change. Isometric’s science-backed credits provide confidence that every tonne removed is truly benefiting the planet — no shortcuts, no inflated claims. 🌍
trellis.net/article/this-sta…
6/ We’re committed to changing the trajectory of climate change, one tonne at a time — and I couldn’t be more excited to play a role in this journey! Stay tuned as we work to make high-integrity, verifiable carbon removal the new standard in climate action. bloomberg.com/features/2024-…
