Building Blue Carbon Projects - An Introductory Guide

Carbon Finance

Carbon offsetting is a well-known method of financing conservation by allowing an entity to purchase the ability to compensate for their carbon pollution in exchange for carbon not being emitted elsewhere (as it would otherwise have been). In this context, Blue Carbon ecosystems are kept intact, restored or managed to secure and increase their carbon stocks. Carbon financing involves different standard-setting organisations that provide guidance on developing projects for carbon trading and bring validity to projects by ensuring they meet certain (often robust) criteria. An exception being Plan Vivo, which is specifically designed for small-scale community projects, not for producing offsets that will be traded in a market as it is the case for Verified Carbon Standard credits, etc.). Blue Carbon project’s  need  to  address  the  issue  of additionality, which, aims to ensure that the project’s  implementation  is motivated  primarily  by  the  potential  for  receiving  payments  for  the   carbon credits (versus an activity that would have been undertaken regardless). Further, there needs to be assurance that the project will endure and not result in increased carbon dioxide or other greenhouse emissions elsewhere (i.e., permanence and leakage), defined as follows (adapted from Overseas Development Institute, undated): Additionality is the requirement that the carbon emissions after the implementation of a Blue Carbon project are lower than those that would have occurred in the most plausible alternative scenario to the implementation of the project. Permanence refers to the risk that emission removals by afforestation or reforestation activities are reversed because Blue Carbon ecosystems (mangrove forests) are cut down or destroyed by natural disaster. Leakage refers to refers to the risk that a Blue Carbon offset project displaces activities that create emissions outside the boundaries of the project.

Key takeaway:

There may be more than one pathway to use the value of Blue Carbon to mitigate climate change and improve coastal ecosystem management or achieve other project goals Additionality, permanence, and leakage should be explored to ensure that projects are being considered for their likelihood in generating carbon credits, their sustainability, and for preventing emissions elsewhere.

1.5 Status of Blue Carbon Science

Over recent years there has been an expansion of coastal science from investigating the role of carbon and nitrogen in terms of ecosystem productivity, and in the analysis of coastal wetland resilience in terms of sea level rise, to the role of evolving and disturbed coastal ecosystems in the global carbon cycle. This resulted from an evolving awareness about the role coastal ecosystems could play an important role in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. Intact coastal ecosystems slowly but continuously remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in

Building Blue Carbon Projects An Introductory Guide

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