Quoted in The Washington Post

I’m quoted in this Washington Post piece responding to a new report from UNICEF that estimates nearly all the world’s children — more than 2 billion — will be exposed to high heat-wave frequency by 2050.
“The models tell us this is the case, as does empirical lived experience,” Lauren Gifford, a research scientist at the University of Arizona, said in response to the report... “Climate change is what we call a threat multiplier. It takes existing hazards and exacerbates them.”

Featured in a story on National Parks, deferred maintenance, and climate change

Reporter Chloe Nordquist and her crew from Scripps came by my house to talk about how climate change is impacting US national parks for a segment on the problem of deferred maintenance and the impacts of climate change. The best part of the piece is the Rocky Mountain National Park ranger who calls for the importance of social science in solving these issues. He's so right. You can watch the full story here.

Quoted in MIT Technology Review

I'm quoted in MIT Technology Review's latest on Charm Industrial, a company I've enjoyed watching evolve in the carbon removal space. You can read the full article here.
The company seems to be “serving the market in an innovative way that meets multiple needs through one intervention,” Lauren Gifford, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Arizona who focuses on carbon offsets and climate governance, said.

Quoted in VICE, Motherboard on Offsets

I spoke with VICE about a troubling example of a dubious carbon project, using blockchain and cryptocurrency, with false claims of First Nations partnerships. Full article here.

Lauren Gifford, a postdoctoral researcher at University of Arizona who studies how companies financialize the environment as a means of governing it, first noticed the creation of blockchain-linked carbon credits in 2016, a trend that is growing more popular with carbon credit NFT projects like SavePlanetEarth, which purports to create credits by tree planting but has come under fire for its carbon accounting. 

“All of this stuff is people who are seeking to accumulate wealth through this process,” said Gifford, adding that blockchain doesn’t clear up the fundamental issue of unregulated carbon markets with unclear or variable standards and protocols. “[Too often] People don’t even know what’s going on.”

Quoted on Carbon Accounting in Canary Media

I’m quoted in Canary Media on one of my favorite topics, carbon startups. “Lauren Gifford, who studies climate finance and carbon markets and teaches at Metropolitan State University of Denver, said such startups could enable greenwashing. “As far as these certifications, I think we’re going to see a million of them,” said Gifford. “It’s hard to explain climate action to consumers in a way that matters to them. That is a space that these certifications are filling.””
You can read the full article here.

Quoted on Carbon Offsets in Grist & Rolling Stone

I am quoted in a recent article in Grist (which also ran in Rolling Stone) on conservation organizations receiving carbon credits and finance for activities they would have conducted anyway, meaning the carbon storage is not additional. “The atmosphere might not be winning here,” said Lauren Gifford, a geographer at the University of Arizona who has studied carbon policy. “But these carbon offsets have provided a very fruitful funding source for conservation.”

You can read the full article here: “The US is about to go all-in on paying farmers and foresters to trap carbon. The problem is, it’s unclear if “carbon offsets” even work.”

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