The blue carbon wealth of nations

Christine Bertram; Martin Quaas; Thorsten B. H. Reusch; Athanasios T. Vafeidis; Claudia Wolff; Wilfried Rickels

doi:10.1038/s41558-021-01089-4

journal article Open Access Jul 12, 2021

The blue carbon wealth of nations

Christine Bertram Martin Quaas

Thorsten B. H. Reusch

Athanasios T. Vafeidis

Claudia Wolff Wilfried Rickels

Nature Climate Change Vol. 11 No. 8 pp. 704-709 · Springer Science and Business Media LLC

View at Publisher Save 10.1038/s41558-021-01089-4

Abstract

AbstractCarbon sequestration and storage in mangroves, salt marshes and seagrass meadows is an essential coastal ‘blue carbon’ ecosystem service for climate change mitigation. Here we offer a comprehensive, global and spatially explicit economic assessment of carbon sequestration and storage in three coastal ecosystem types at the global and national levels. We propose a new approach based on the country-specific social cost of carbon that allows us to calculate each country’s contribution to, and redistribution of, global blue carbon wealth. Globally, coastal ecosystems contribute a mean ± s.e.m. of US$190.67 ± 30 bn yr−1 to blue carbon wealth. The three countries generating the largest positive net blue wealth contribution for other countries are Australia, Indonesia and Cuba, with Australia alone generating a positive net benefit of US$22.8 ± 3.8 bn yr−1 for the rest of the world through coastal ecosystem carbon sequestration and storage in its territory.

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Citations

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References

Details

Published: Jul 12, 2021
Vol/Issue: 11(8)
Pages: 704-709
License: View

Authors

Thorsten B. H. Reusch

GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel Marine Ecology ‐ Evolutionary Ecology Kiel 24105 Germany

A

Athanasios T. Vafeidis

Funding

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung Award: 03F0859E

EC | Horizon 2020 Framework Programme Award: 862626

Cite This Article

Christine Bertram, Martin Quaas, Thorsten B. H. Reusch, et al. (2021). The blue carbon wealth of nations. Nature Climate Change, 11(8), 704-709. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01089-4

The blue carbon wealth of nations

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