C-BLUES

Context

Climate change is an urgent crisis affecting ecosystems and human livelihoods. The key to combating it is reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increasing carbon dioxide removal (CDR), which is measured through national GHG inventories under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). A key sector in this measurement is Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF), traditionally focused on terrestrial systems.

Over the past 15 years, evidence has grown highlighting the important role of blue carbon ecosystems (BCE) in climate change mitigation, as these coastal ecosystems can store carbon for centuries or even millennia. Proper management of BCEs is crucial for achieving the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, the 2030 Agenda, and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.

Despite their potential, BCEs have not been widely included in national GHG reporting or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) due to data gaps, challenges in carbon accounting, and the non-mandatory nature of the IPCC Wetlands Supplement.

Objectives

C-BLUES seeks to enhance knowledge and understanding of Blue Carbon Ecosystems (BCEs), including emerging BCEs like natural and farmed kelp systems, and increase BCE inclusion in national greenhouse gas inventories and reporting under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

C-BLUES is aiming to achieve three overarching objectives:

1. develop new scientific knowledge within blue carbon ecosystems to reduce scientific uncertainty and improve reporting of blue carbon under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
2. provide input to a possible revision of the 2013 IPCC Wetlands Supplement to increase inclusion of coastal wetlands in national greenhouse gas inventories and reporting
3. raise awareness and promote the role of blue carbon for delivering global climate policy commitments in collaboration with Chinese and other international partners.

Activities

To achieve these objectives, C-BLUES will carry out the following activities

• Produce spatial maps, methodological best practices and standard operating procedures
• Enable more robust and reliable quantification of carbon emissions and sequestration
• Model sequestration capacity and upscale regional and global greenhouse gas budgets
• Assess carbon stock changes, greenhouse gas emissions and removals related to different management interventions and human activities
• Review legal and institutional frameworks governing blue carbon ecosystems
• Assess the drivers and barriers for integrating coastal wetlands into national reporting mechanisms under the UNFCCC.

Impact

C-BLUES will target the EU Mission’s four “Lighthouse Areas”: the Atlantic-Arctic, the Baltic-North Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Danube-Black Sea. Through collaboration with Chinese partners, the coast of China is also included. 

The project will engage with the scientific community, climate and coastal policy makers and the wider civil society to disseminate the knowledge generated, raise awareness of blue carbon ecoystems and build capacity for blue carbon research inclusion. 

C-BLUES will effectively impact national and international climate policy work so that blue carbon ecosystems more prominently are included in reporting and management actions.

More info: www.c-blues.eu