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Tapping into the potential of ocean carbon sinks
By Ji Jing  ·  2024-03-04  ·   Source: NO.10 MARCH 7, 2024
Aerial view of a mangrove park in Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian Province, on January 23 (XINHUA)
Xunshan Group, an aquatic product company in Weihai, a coastal city in Shandong Province, has employed a three-layered ecological breeding model. The upper layer grows algae such as kelp, the middle layer breeds shellfish such as abalone and scallops, and the lower layer raises fish and sea cucumbers.

With this integrated multi-trophic aquaculture approach, multiple species are cultivated in proximity to create a more sustainable and balanced aquaculture system.

Algae and other marine organisms are vital in capturing and storing carbon through biological carbon sequestration. Through photosynthesis, algae absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and transform it into organic compounds. When these marine plants and algae die, their organic matter sinks to the ocean floor, where it can be buried and stored for extended periods, effectively reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.

The blue carbon concept was introduced in the report Blue Carbon: The Role of Healthy Oceans in Binding Carbon by the United Nations Environment Programme in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the UNESCO in 2009.

Blue carbon refers to carbon absorbed from the atmosphere and stored in coastal and marine ecosystems. Scientific studies show that the ocean stores 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere and 20 times more than land plants and soil combined. Mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses are recognized as three major blue carbon sinks as both their plants and sediment beneath them can sequester and store large quantities of carbon.

Blue carbon has significant advantages over green carbon, the carbon sink produced by green plants through photosynthesis, in terms of carbon capture and storage. Blue carbon can store carbon for longer periods of time. Land ecosystems such as forests and grasslands can store carbon for several decades, while blue carbon sinks can store carbon for hundreds of years.

As China in 2020 set the goal to peak its carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, blue carbon has received increasing attention as an effective way to offset carbon emissions.

A kelp farm in Rongcheng, Weihai, Shandong Province, on February 21, 2020 (XINHUA) 

Turning value into asset 

Weihai in recent years has intensified its efforts to develop the algae growing and shellfish breeding industries to increase its ocean carbon sink capacity. In 2022, the city's production of 1.97 tons of shellfish and algae was equivalent to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 531,000 tons.

At the Rongcheng Swan National Nature Reserve in Weihai, a team led by Zhang Peidong, a professor at the College of Fisheries of the Ocean University of China, has been conducting an experiment since 2006 to restore the eelgrass, which serves as a food source for whooper swans and forms a seagrass bed. He told local news portal Rznew.cn in October last year that nearly 80 percent of the seagrass bed at the nature reserve had been restored.

Seagrasses provide habitat for offshore ocean life and play crucial roles in regulating the global climate.

According to the website of the UN, "Ocean habitats such as seagrasses and mangroves, along with their associated food webs, can sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at rates up to four times higher than terrestrial forests."

Weihai is transforming blue carbon into a tangible asset. In August 2021, the city issued its first ocean carbon sink loan. Rongcheng Rural Commercial Bank granted a 20-million-yuan ($2.8-million) loan to Xunshan, with the company's 425,000 tons of carbon emission rights pledged as collateral. The price of carbon emission rights was determined based on the national carbon market price.

Established as a pilot program in 2011, China's national carbon market began official trading in July 2021. It encompasses an average annual carbon dioxide emission volume of approximately 5.1 billion tons, representing over 40 percent of the country's total emissions, as reported by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

In addition to the national market, China has also set up a carbon trading market in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, and piloted several regional markets in other places including Beijing, Tianjin and Chongqing as well as Hubei and Fujian provinces.

Carbon trading enables companies to purchase and sell allowances for releasing specific amounts of carbon dioxide, encouraging them to better manage emissions and diminish carbon footprints.

Similar to Weihai, numerous other cities in China have implemented pilot programs for blue carbon trading.

Last March, the first blue carbon auction in China took place at Xihu Port, Xiangshan, Zhejiang Province. During the auction, Zhejiang Yiduan Precision Machinery Co. Ltd. acquired the port's one-year carbon sink of 2,340 tons for 248,000 yuan ($34,448).

Wang Yuan, a manager at the company, expressed the company's intent to use the blue carbons credits obtained from the auction to offset its carbon emissions.

Zhu Wenrong, General Manager of Xuwen Seaweed, sold nearly 200 tons of blue carbon credits at the auction.

"Our cultivated sea lettuce serves as a significant carbon sink. Now, we can transform its ecological value into financial assets," he told newspaper China Daily.

Xihu possesses a substantial amount of blue carbon resources. In July 2022, the county engages the services of the Ningbo Institute of Oceanography to assess Xihu Port's carbon sink capacity. The institute confirmed that the port has a carbon sink volume of 2,340 tons annually.

Liu Dahai, Director of the Coastal Line Center of the First Institute of Oceanography of the Ministry of Natural Resources, told Xinmin Evening News after the auction that the event will contribute to the achievement of the country's dual carbon goal and further unlock the potential of blue carbon.

What the future holds 

The Ministry of Natural Resources has indicated that China's ocean carbon trading mainly covers three blue carbon ecosystems—mangroves, seagrasses and tidal marshes—recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body responsible for evaluating climate change science.

China's ocean carbon sink trading is still in its early stages, and related standards are currently under development.

Last January, the Accounting Methods for Ocean Carbon Sink were implemented to facilitate trading in this sector.

Liu Dahai informed newspaper People's Daily that China is promoting the establishment of a trading mechanism for ocean carbon sink.

(Print Edition Title: A Sea of Wealth) 

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon 

Comments to jijing@cicgamericas.com 

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