Blue Carbon

EMB Policy Brief N°11: Blue Carbon Natalie Hicks Working Group Member Blue Carbon Challenges and opportunities to mitigate the climate and biodiversity crises Authors: Sheila JJ Heymans (EMB, Chair), Jean-Pierre Gattuso (CNRS, France), Natalie Hicks (University of Essex, UK), Griet Neukermans (University of Gent, Belgium), Peter Landschützer (VLIZ, Belgium), Hans-Otto Pörtner (AWI, Germany)What [...] Mangrove forest in Guadeloupe, France • Traditional definition: Mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses (coastal vegetated ecosystems with rooted vegetation) • Expanded definition: also coastal, shelf and offshore marine sediments, where carbon is buried and stored • Other components of the biological carbon cycle: • The deep Ocean, whales, fish stocks • Kelp and macroalgae (absorb CO2 but do [...] maerl and shellfish) – emit CO2 as they calcify In this policy brief: Coastal vegetated ecosystems with rooted vegetation & marine coastal, continental shelf and offshore sediments The most important issue is the long-term storage of carbonThe benefits of Blue Carbon ecosystems Saltmarshes in an estuary in UK Oystercatcher in coastal sediments in Ireland Protection and restoration of Blue Carbo [...] storms and floods) and support other societal needs such as food security from the Ocean Limitations • Effectiveness limited by available space • Maximum mitigation ~ 2% of our current global emissions • Climate change can reduce effectiveness (e.g. [...] loss of space, negative impacts of warming, drought) Essential to also drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions Keep global warming close to 1.5°C above pre-industrialThe role of the Ocean in the carbon cycle The global carbon cycle Adapted from Friedlingstein et al., 2022 (CC-BY 4.0) The Ocean currently takes up ~25% of all CO2 emissions each year • This uptake will diminish in the futu [...] remineralisation, fragmentation, sinking) in carbon cycle models • Promote collaboration between environmental scientists, social scientists and engineers to ensure the integration of Blue Carbon solutions (multi-disciplinary approach)Download from the EMB website: blue-carbon