“Blue Carbon” credits can help restore ecosystems

This story was originally appeared Yale Environment 360 and Climate Table collaboration.

Off the coast of Virginia, vast pastures of seagrass sway in deep water. In the last two decades, conservation scientists have spread more than 70 million seeds in its bays, restoring them. 3,600 acres An ecosystem destroyed by disease in the 1930s (9,000 acres). The work has brought eel grass (Zostera marina) – a key species that supports crustaceans, fish and scallops, and currently absorbs its equivalent almost half a metric ton CO₂ per hectare per year.

Now, the Virginia Nature Conservancy aims to convert those tons into carbon credits that can be sold in cash.

Collaboration project—With plantations from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and the Nature Conservancy and long-term carbon data provided by the University of Virginia — it is the world’s first seaweed to apply for a carbon credit certificate with Washington. The non-profit organization Verra, the world’s largest supervisor of carbon credit projects. “It’s proof of the concept; that’s the most important part here,” says Christopher Patrick, director of the VIMS marine grass restoration and control program. “We’re not going to change the global climate with this project. But we can show that it’s a viable approach.”

If successful, it will join other “carbon blue” credits around the world, for the most part mangrove restoration efforts – many predict that blue clouds will soon become flooded. To date, Vera represents less than 970,000 credits (970,000 tons of CO)₂ equivalents) to blue carbon projects. But mangrove projects are growing tremendously, and a single one aims to absorb millions of tons of CO.₂ equivalents per year. Scientists are working hard to take into account carbon from other types of ecosystems (seagrass, saltwater, algae, and sediments from the seabed) so they can also enter the market.

These other ecosystems are new rules for applying for credit. The first was published in 2015 by Vera methodology to provide credit for the restoration of tidal wetlands and seagrass, but only last September Did Vera extend its rules to cover wetland conservation? That was a “very big thing,” says Jennifer Howard, director of marine climate change at Conservation International. “I now know at least 20 different projects, all of which are trying to be developed and marketed over the next two years. I think we will see a big explosion. “

“The market is small, but it’s growing exponentially,” agrees marine ecologist Oscar Serrano at Edith Cowan University in Perth. catalog capacity Climate change mitigation for Australia’s blue carbon reserves.

Amy Schmid, an ecologist and director of natural climate solutions development for Verra, said “there is a high demand for blue carbon credits.” Shipping and tourism companies want money to conserve landscapes that could once again affect them, while offsetting their emissions. Many of these projects offer winning and winning stories for people, biodiversity, and carbon, which drives up the price that organizations can get in the open market for their credit. Corporations, including Geneva-based MSC Cruises and Apple, have been heavily involved in blue carbon purchasing and projects.

They have carbon credits It was in the late 1990s; it’s long been possible, for example, to offset the emissions from your wedding in California by planting carbon credits when planting trees in the Amazon. Along with Verra, the Geneva-based Gold Standard and the Edinburgh Plan Vivo have been created to write a rulebook and keep records of carbon credit projects.