Blue carbon is the carbon captured and sequestered by marine ecosystems, and the credits that projects to protect and restore these environments create are in high demand. Companies are looking at the role that mangroves, seagrass and saltmarshes can play in climate resilience and adaption, as well as their own efforts to offset carbon emissions.
But how this demand is met, and the way in which projects are designed to involve communities and safeguard livelihoods, is set to influence whether the world’s transition to a greener economy is a just one.
Coastal wetlands are estimated to sequester carbon dioxide as much as 10 times faster than terrestrial forests, with some stored in the biomass above ground but the majority locked up in the soil, sediment and thick root structures under the surface. But as well as acting as carbon sinks, they provide food, protection from extreme weather events, and livelihoods for local communities. They are also incredibly biodiverse.
At this year’s World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, the role these coastal environments can play in climate change mitigation and adaption was central to several high-level events. And there was much talk about how restoring coastal ecosystems could result in a return of $11.8 billion in carbon finance by 2040.
Now, several partnerships are looking at ways to help businesses tap into blue carbon, by developing the science, the policy and the financial mechanisms that can help projects to scale.
These include organisations such as the Plan Vivo Foundation, which supports terrestrial and blue carbon projects, as well as setting standards in the voluntary carbon market. According to blue carbon coordinator Evie Ward, Vivo is working on new methodologies that take into account the fact that these coastal forests are much smaller and more fragmented than land-based ones. Plan Vivo wants to make blue carbon projects more accessible, with more technical support and more straightforward guidelines.
There is further clarity in the High-Quality Blue Carbon Principles and Guidance, launched by Conservation International in the run-up to last year’s U.N. climate conference, COP27. It is designed to build high-quality blue carbon projects by providing a consistent and accepted framework for credit purchasers and investors, as well as project developers.
The initiative is based on five principles: safeguard nature; empower people; employ the best information and carbon-accounting principles; operate contextually and locally; and mobilise high-integrity capital.