Nature’s helping hand.
Blue Carbon
Our world’s coastal ecosystems can remove and store carbon dioxide – naturally.
The recent groundswell of action on climate change and the world’s carbon footprint is both positive and necessary. Never in my 20 years of working on climate solutions have I seen this level of commitment and focus — across all sectors — on mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The world is turning to technology-enabled solutions for clean energy production, energy efficiency and energy storage to achieve the Paris Agreement target, and success depends on our ability to remove GHGs from the atmosphere, in addition to eliminating additional GHG emissions sources. To that end, the world’s coastal ecosystems are particularly adept at removing and storing carbon dioxide.
Nature can help
Nature-based solutions have long held an important role in global efforts to manage our carbon footprint. Looking to our past, forest restoration and conservation provided the earliest carbon offset sources. And looking to the present and into our future, blue carbon provides a substantial but yet unrealized nature-based opportunity for GHG reduction. The term blue carbon refers to the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using ocean ecosystems, including salt marshes, mangroves, sea grasses and algae.
Coastal wetland capture and hold carbon at high rates when compared to most forests and other ecosystems, so protecting and restoring them is critical. Ways to do this include restoring natural rewetting processes by inundating areas diked for agriculture; moving sediment to recreate wetlands lost to open ocean from human development and storm surge; and protecting and conserving wetlands under threat of conversion from activities such as logging, dam and levee construction and other industrial development.
Critical Storage
Ocean + Coastal Habitats
83%
GLOBAL CARBON
2%
COVERAGE
50%
SEDIMENT CARBON
83% of the global carbon cycle is circulated through the ocean. Coastal habitats cover less than 2% of the total ocean area but account for approximately half of the total carbon sequestered in ocean sediments.
Source: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Advancing a natural solution
In the U.S. alone, more than 1.5 million acres of coastal wetland system have been lost during the last century due to human intervention. Critical wildlife habitat, natural water pollutant removal capacity, fishery production, storm surge protection and many other ecosystem values have been lost too.
To address biodiversity loss, Jacobs is bringing its global expertise of drafting carbon codes and designing nature-based solutions that restore coastal ecosystems to the partnership that is developing and trialing the U.K. carbon code for saltmarshes. Supported by the U.K. Government’s new Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund, the project will formulate scientific and revenue models, plus a certification scheme for U.K. projects wanting to attract private investment by selling the carbon benefits from restoring saltmarshes. It’s a big step in the right direction.
Helping to Develop a Saltmarsh Carbon Code
Carbon captured by coastal ecosystems such as saltmarshes, referred to as “blue carbon,” provides a natural way of reducing the impact of greenhouse gases on our atmosphere. This carbon code project is set to pave the way for significant investment in restoring the U.K.’s saltmarshes, which will help mitigate climate change, support biodiversity and reduce flood risk.
To borrow a metaphor, the tide is turning, and the importance of nature-based solutions that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is critical now and will only increase with time and attention. ■
More Resources
What is Blue Carbon?, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (article)
How Natural Infrastructure is Protecting Critical Assets and Louisiana’s Coast (article)
Tyndall Air Force Base, Panama City Beach, Florida (project)