Project
C-BLUES: Carbon sequestration in BLUe EcoSystems
Active project
Project start: January 2024 | Project end: November 2028Funder: Horizon Europe
Principal Investigator: Dr Olivia Rendón
Other participants from PML: Prof Nicola Beaumont, Keila Guillen
The C-BLUES project aims to significantly advance knowledge and understanding of blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) - seagrasses, tidal marshes, mangroves and macroalgae - to reduce scientific uncertainty, improve reporting of blue carbon, and promote the role of blue carbon in delivering climate policy commitments.
BCEs play a vital role in carbon sequestration and storage. However, there are still major knowledge gaps about their distribution, functioning and management. The C-BLUES project will produce spatial maps, best practices and procedures to enable robust quantification of carbon emissions and sequestration from BCEs. The project will also assess impacts of human activities and management interventions on BCEs and their carbon storage capacity.
PML leads the task focused on investment, finance mechanisms and trading systems for blue carbon. This will include a state-of-the-art assessment of current investment and trading opportunities for blue carbon, presenting lessons and recommendations, especially for bundling different ecosystem service credits together.
Impact
The C-BLUES project expects to effectively impact national and international climate policy so that BCEs are more prominently included in climate reporting and management actions. The project also aims to build capacity for blue carbon research and engage stakeholders to raise awareness of the role of BCEs in climate mitigation.