ENABLING BLUE CARBON MARKETS

Towards blue carbon ACCUs

Blue carbon markets are an innovative approach to addressing climate change while simultaneously protecting our marine ecosystems. Blue carbon refers to the carbon that is stored in coastal and marine ecosystems, such as mangroves, seagrass beds, and tidal marshes. These ecosystems are highly effective at sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in the sediment and biomass.

Blue carbon markets can create incentives for conservation and restoration of valuable marine ecosystems. In Australia, the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) allows landholders run eligible projects that avoid and reduce the release of emissions to earn Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) which represent one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent stored or avoided. ACCUs can then be traded and sold, providing financial support for blue carbon ecosystem conservation and restoration projects.

Blue Carbon methods

Exclusion

Overview

Non-native ungulates (e.g., livestock, feral pigs, deer, donkeys, buffalo) cause extensive damage to coastal wetlands by disturbing soils (e.g., wallowing and rooting), causing erosion, preventing recruitment and reducing growth of native vegetation, and damaging important ecological and cultural sites. In doing so, they significantly diminish the carbon-sink capacity of coastal wetlands, as well as trigger the release of previously stored carbon back into the atmosphere. Australia needs low-cost solutions (e.g., fencing, populations control) to exclude ungulates from coastal wetlands while simultaneously kickstarting the blue carbon market.

Blue Carbon Lab is undertaking research to evaluate exclusion as a low-cost method for coastal wetland restoration and is supporting the development of an exclusion method under the Emissions Reduction Fund. This method intends to achieve marketable blue carbon and other ecosystem service benefits to support farmers in transitioning increasingly marginal farming areas into productive wetland ecosystems by excluding non-native ungulates from coastal wetland ecosystems.

Scale of opportunity

For the first time, we will estimate the scale of opportunity to restore coastal wetlands through the exclusion of non-native ungulates and the resulting carbon abatement and ecosystem services. Priority and cost-effective areas will be identified using Victoria as a case-study, to help focus restoration efforts. This approach will provide practical information for stakeholders and land managers, ensuring high impact research that influences on-ground management.

Landholder amenability

A coastal wetland restoration program largely focussed on private land requires an understanding of how private landowners value coastal wetlands, their motivations, barriers to changes in land-use practices, and what incentives might encourage landholder participation in restoration on their land. Our research will evaluate landholder amenability to coastal wetland restoration, providing critical insights into the type of mechanisms that could be used to reward those who restore coastal wetlands on their property.

Public benefit

Our research will help determine the general population’s willingness to pay for the restoration of coastal wetlands, and to prioritize the importance of ecosystem services provided by the restored wetlands. This information will help inform government and investor decision-making regarding investment in coastal wetland restoration.

Cost benefit analysis

Our research aims to evaluate the economic viability of exclusion projects for coastal wetland restoration by integrating the financial, environmental, and social dimensions of value into a framework. The viability of fencing projects will be aligned to financing solutions, based on our understanding of which stakeholders (private landholders, investors, or the public) benefit from which projects and the appropriate incentive mechanisms required to facilitate uptake.

ERF method development

It is imperative to operationalise financial strategies for both the cost of restoration actions as well as appropriate compensation (incentive) for private landholders. Our research will help support the development of a new blue carbon method (exclusion of non-native ungulates from coastal wetlands) under the ERF.

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Contact

Dr Melissa Wartman

Tidal reinstatement

Overview

Australia has its first blue carbon method, Tidal restoration of blue carbon ecosystems, under the ERF that enables ACCUs to be earned by projects that remove or modify tidal restriction mechanisms and allow tidal flow to be introduced to an area of land. This results in the rewetting of completely or partially drained coastal wetland ecosystems and the conversion of freshwater wetlands to brackish or saline wetlands.

There are three components within coastal wetland ecosystems that contribute to carbon abatement for a blue carbon project:

Soil carbon sequestration (through vertical accretion).
Carbon sequestered in above and below ground vegetation biomass.
Emissions avoided from introducing tidal flow.

Scale of opportunity

Since 2019, BCL has been estimating the scale of opportunity to restore coastal wetlands through tidal reinstatement and the resulting carbon abatement (Costa et al., 2022; Moritsch et al., 2021). Our research has focused mainly on Queensland and Victoria, with current efforts aiming to expand this research to other areas, while also improving current estimates. Furthermore, we will identify priority areas for restoration based on the potential carbon abatement and the provision of additional ecosystem services. This will provide key information to foster the implementation of blue carbon projects within Australia.

Feasibility Assessments

Despite the release of the first blue carbon method back in January 2022, there are still several challenges preventing large-scale uptake of the method by landholders. Our research will investigate these barriers and will include biophysical assessments and evaluation of landholder amenability to work towards developing a comprehensive portfolio of the shovel-ready sites. Developing pre-feasibility assessments of potential pilot restoration sites will help to understand the feasibility of blue carbon restoration and the development of a functioning blue carbon market.