Blue carbon ecosystems have increasingly gained international attention as a solution to both the climate and biodiversity crisis. Today, a range of stakeholders— from civil society, governments, academia, and the private sector—are eager to fill the gaps in research and policy development. Still, the capabilities and benefits of these powerful and vibrant ecosystems are only just being more fully understood.

The discussions around ‘blue carbon’ developed rapidly over the past twenty years. Although aquatic ecosystems were previously recognized as a carbon sink, the official term ‘blue carbon’ was introduced to illustrate how coastal ecosystems like mangroves, seagrasses, and tidal marshes could function as a strategic solution to the climate crisis. From 2003 to 2008, less than 30 research papers were published on blue carbon per year. By 2017, citations for blue carbon had significantly increased, with the highest burst of citations being between 2017 and 2020.

Parallel to the rise in blue carbon was interest in voluntary carbon markets (VCMs), where actors voluntarily buy or sell carbon credits that represent greenhouse gas emission removals from the atmosphere. However, VCMs became the center of a dissonant global debate, when questions on the integrity of carbon credits resulted in greenwashing accusations and a decline in trade credits in 2023.

As blue carbon ecosystems face unprecedented threats and a changing climate, it is crucial to align new and incumbent stakeholders under a shared vision of high-quality blue carbon that achieves lasting and meaningful outcomes for people, nature, and the climate.

So how can we bring back credibility, encourage investment, and ensure multiple wins for people, nature and climate?

Coastal ecosystems provide core benefits to coastal communities such as job security, improved water quality, coastal protection from extreme weather and support for fisheries. They are also essential parts of community culture, heritage and identity.

With understanding that the potential impact of blue carbon projects continually growing, demand for high-quality blue carbon credits is currently outpacing supply. As this imbalance grows, there is a real risk that blue carbon projects will be developed without considering the very specific needs of local people.

As natural stewards of the environments upon which they depend and from which they draw key aspects of their culture and identity, local communities should be permanent and leading voices in the development and execution of blue carbon projects. Bringing their innate understanding of the land on which they live, these communities can support insights into how an ecosystem is likely to respond to interventions and provide long-term, localized support to project work.

This unlocks opportunities for local people to take up dedicated roles in project design, government and management, and become true leaders in the blue carbon sphere. The Nature Conservancy’s Voice, Choice, and Action Framework sets out a clear and powerful call to prioritize local leadership and ensure the equitable sharing of benefits.

Each blue carbon ecosystem is highly complex, dynamic and unique. And all of them are in a state of constant flux which is part of their beauty - no single habitat is the same as another, and many change noticeably across the hours of any given day, week or year.

Of course, this brings unique challenges to measuring their carbon storage capacity, and to standardizing accounting methods across different areas.

Addressing this challenge by establishing accurate carbon baselines, utilizing the latest and best scientific knowledge, as well as incorporating Indigenous knowledge and assessing threats to durability, are key to bring back confidence in the value of blue carbon projects.

The blue carbon sphere is an exciting space for scientists to come together, align global research and collectively work towards a common goal.

Emerging voluntary and compliance markets require comprehensive and dependable projects that can generate carbon credits. Many countries are also looking to include blue carbon ecosystems in their Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement. Pipelines for these have been difficult to scale and simultaneously blue carbon ecosystems face sea level rise, warming temperatures, and more frequent and intense storm

So how can we tackle this uncertainty and provide a clearly investible proposition in the blue carbon space?

A key part of this is how high-quality projects utilize adaptive management techniques, a way of continually improving management processes by being flexible and adaptive to new and emerging influences and learning from prior actions. Directing investment channels to support projects that prioritize long-term results, whilst being responsive to real need on the ground, is essential to preserving job security, encouraging biodiversity and supporting climate action.

With attention turning from land to sea, now is the time to align action to build a resilient, vibrant and healthy future for our ocean.

The Blue Carbon Action Partnership

The Blue Carbon Action Partnership is spearheading this development by bringing together scientists, investors, governments, NGOs, businesses and coastal communities at a local and global level.

All work by the team is underpinned by the High-Quality Blue Carbon Principles and Guidance report, developed in partnership by Conservation International, Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA), Salesforce, The Nature Conservancy and The World Economic Forum, with Meridian Institute as a delivery partner.

Follow Friends of Ocean Action on LinkedIn and Twitter for the latest updates from the Blue Carbon Action Partnership team.