The possibility of trading soil carbon credits has also been studied, and credits for carbon sequestration by agriculture have begun to be traded in voluntary markets . However, there currently are no reports on the market size of soil credits or credit prices. The potential of oceanic blue carbon as a source of credits through protection in offshore areas has been highlighted recently, but there is currently a lack of scientific knowledge and policy experience on this topic . Hutto et al.discusses phytoplankton, kelp, fish, and whales as oceanic blue carbon . The role of carbon removal and storage in the transport of kelp and phytoplankton biomass to deep-sea sediments and in the dead fall of fish and whales to the deep sea has been become increasingly recognized. In turn, carbon accumulated in the upper layers of deep-sea sediments may be released into the atmosphere when they are disturbed by bottom-trawl fishing.Preventing the loss of marine blue carbon through trawling by establishing marine protected areas and increasing the amount of marine blue carbon deposited by increasing the number of fish and whales could lead to the creation of blue carbon credits. Several voluntary carbon markets have certified blue carbon offset methodologies and implementation protocols. These markets are almost all for mangroves and salt marshes. To the best of our knowledge, there is no voluntary market for seagrass meadows, macroalgal beds, and macroalgae farming, although their CO2 uptake potentials are large. Here, we review three blue carbon offset credit projects being implemented in Japan in seagrass meadows,ebb and flow tray including the world’s first three projects that incorporate macroalgal beds and macroalgae farming.
Specifically, the blue carbon offset credit projects include: the project in Yokohama City, the world’s first; the project in Fukuoka City, the second such project in Japan; and the first Japanese national governmental demonstration project. Then, we show the challenges encountered in implementing these projects in terms of people, goods, money, and mechanisms, and how the problems were solved. Finally, we discuss issues and directions for future project expansion. The socioeconomic aims of blue carbon initiatives include improving the capital value and economic benefits of SCEs, improving their cost effectiveness as public works, and promoting local business. The economic benefits include economic incentives, including carbon offset credits , payments for ecosystem services , and income from funds. Historically, carbon offset credits have been implemented using a top-down approach. Here, international markets are first established, and credit markets at the national and local government levels are subsequently created. However, in the new framework adopted at COP21 in 2015, which is legally binding after 2020 as part of the Paris Agreement, mitigation measures are undertaken in a unique way by each country, and the basic policy includes a mutual verification mechanism . Thus, to implement the new framework of the Paris Agreement, both global and local climate change countermeasures will be promoted. In addition, the use of monetary incentives to appeal to the private sector requires a bottom-up approach in which markets are newly established at the spatial scale of local governments and privately led projects are developed. For the social implementation of carbon credit schemes, independent methods for the measurement, reporting, and verification of credits are needed. These methods involve accurate, objective, and quantitative measurements of carbon based on scientific and technological knowledge, transparent reporting, and verification.
The submission of greenhouse gas inventories to the UNFCCC Convention Secretariat is based on the MRV principle. Mitigation of climate change by storing atmospheric CO2 in the sea via natural systems can be achieved by three approaches: creating new target ecosystems ; reducing the declineof target ecosystems through restoration and conservation; and improving the management of target environments and ecosystems . Various guidelines for measuring carbon storage and CO2 uptake by blue carbon ecosystems and for creating credits for blue carbon have been developed. Australia has included blue carbon ecosystems in its national greenhouse gas accounts. The Australian Government’s Emissions Reduction Fund has developed comprehensive guidelines for that purpose. Other organizations that have produced guidelines include the IPCC , Conservation International, UNESCO, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, UNEP and the Center for International Forestry Research, and the Verified Carbon Standard , which is an independent carbon trading certification body in the United States. In Japan, guidance documents describing measurement methods for seagrass meadows, tidal flats, embayments, and port facilities have been prepared. The voluntary market credit system is operated and managed mainly by the US and Europe, with rules created by Verra , Gold Standard , and Plan Vivo . Plan Vivo, for example, has created the world’s first community-based blue carbon credit for the conservation and regeneration of mangrove forests in the Gazi region of Kenya. The project, Mikoko Pamoja, includes the Kenya National Marine Fisheries Research Institute and British and American organizations as actors and funders. However, one challenge remains—Plan Vivo’s methodology does not include sediment, which is a major carbon reservoir. Verra, formerly known as the Verified Carbon Standard , has been working to develop methodologies for blue carbon ecosystems. In 2015, it published a methodology that can be adapted to the restoration of seagrass beds and salt marshes.
In September 2020, Verra extended the methodology to the conservation of wetlands . VM0007 has been used to register the world’s first project on the conservation of mangrove ecosystems, including sediments, in Cispat´ a, in the Gulf of Morroquillo, Colombia; the project is supported by Conservation International and Apple. In May 2021, Apple purchased 17,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalents to offset its comprehensive carbon footprint for fiscal year 2020. In Pakistan’s Sindh Province, a 60- year conservation and regeneration project for 350,000 ha of mangrove forests has also applied to offer offsets and is currently being verified by Verra. However, projects targeting seagrass beds and salt marshes using VM0033 have not been registered to date. In the following section, we review three blue carbon offset credit projects for seagrass meadows, macroalgal beds, and macroalgae farming in Japan . Overall, members of the Japanese public are supportive of blue carbon projects. One possible reason for this support is that various related entities participate in the conservation and restoration projects to generate carbon offset credits; hence, the credit buyers may be more sympathetic to the projects as a whole, rather than just the carbon credits themselves. There are many stakeholders, such as managers, users, and implementers of conservation activities, in the same marine areas. Conflicts can arise, for example, between participants in marine leisure and conservation activities, but mediation between stakeholders by municipalities and other groups such as the Hakata Bay NEXT Conference may be a factor in the success of these blue carbon projects. Nevertheless, to realize a successful project, it is necessary to manage and invest human, material, and financial resources under an appropriate system or mechanism. Therefore, we extracted and compared these elements for each project. In March 2011, Yokohama City formulated the “Yokohama City Action Plan for Global Warming Countermeasures” based on the Yokohama City Ordinance on the Conservation of Living Environment. As part of the global warming countermeasure projects in this plan, the city has been working on using its own certified credits through the Yokohama Blue Carbon Project. Even though scientific knowledge on blue carbon is scarce and social implementation has been slow, Yokohama City was the first entity in the world to establish its own system and promote measures against global warming in the sea area. Meanwhile, Fukuoka City formulated the Hakata Bay Environmental Conservation Plan in January 2008 with the aim of conserving water quality and promoting the conservation, regeneration, and creation of the rich natural environment of Hakata Bay. In 2016, the second plan was formulated with the objectives of preserving a habitat where abundant macroalgae and seagrasses grow, expanding their growing areas, and providing habitat where young fish can grow. The Japanese national government has established the CIP system of government-approved private corporations and related laws to promote collaboration among industry, government, academia, and the private sector. As explained in Section 3.3, JBE utilizes this CIP system and works with companies, local governments, NGOs, NPOs, and other organizations to promote research and study in an environment fostering cross-industrial cooperation. Human resources are critically important to the success of these projects. In the case of the Yokohama Blue Carbon Project, the following can be considered as success factors with regard to the people involved. First, Yokohama City, as a model city, had already been implementing a wide variety of measures to combat global warming in coastal areas through partnerships among industry, 4×8 flood tray government, academia, and private organizations.
Its citizens have developed a sense of identity and civic pride in the sea through the promotion of the “Ocean City Yokohama” policy. Successive Yokohama City officials have been enthusiastic about the project. As a result of all these factors, Yokohama City was able to pioneer its own scheme ahead of the rest of the world despite having incomplete scientific knowledge about blue carbon and a general lack of social implementation. Importantly, the very positive attitude of both credit creators and credit users toward the environment matched the purpose of this project. In the case of Fukuoka City, various entities, including private citizens, citizen groups, fishers, businesses, educators, and the government, have successfully worked together toward the conservation and creation of marine ecosystems. A foundation had been laid for cooperation among industry, government, academic, and private-sector entities. Furthermore, the Hakata Bay NEXT Conference was established to promote collaboration among these various stakeholders. JBE has been led by people who have supported local government initiatives. Notably, the representatives of the Japanese national government have been also hosting blue carbon study groups and discussion committees for several years. In addition, the JBE supports collaborative work with companies, local governments, NGOs, NPOs, and other organizations to promote research and study.In the case of Yokohama City, eelgrass restoration was conducted at Sea Park Yokohama. The Sea Park is a sandy beach artificially created by the City of Yokohama in 1988; it is owned by the City of Yokohama. Eelgrass restoration activities started here in about 2001, and the continued efforts led to the recovery of the eelgrass beds. The fact that the sea area within the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in Yokohama could be used as a field for a demonstration experiment of macroalgae farming was another important factor in the project’s success. In the case of Fukuoka City, the formation of a place where citizens could familiarize themselves with the water was planned around 1989 as part of the port administration. Against this background, the maintenance and management of natural eelgrass beds and the creation of macroalgal beds on bio-symbiotic blue infrastructure have been implemented in the waters of Hakata Port. In the case of JBE, a sea area in the Port of Yokohama was selected as the first demonstration site for the J-Blue Credit. Restoration of eelgrass beds has been carried out in this sea area since 2013. In addition, a macroalgal bed creation experiment conducted by the government from2010 to 2012 resulted in the formation of a Sargassum bed, and fishers are now harvesting while managing the resource. Financing is critically important for any project. In the case of Yokohama City, the project was selected as a CNCA Innovation Fund project and was able to proceed using foreign funding. Over time, additional funding was secured from Yokohama City . Furthermore, the sale of credits generated income for the project implementer. In the case of Fukuoka City, financial resources were secured through the creation of a new funding scheme that utilized port charges. With the establishment of the blue carbon offset system, a framework was created through which companies can purchase eelgrass as part of their CSR activities or ESG management, thereby financially supporting the activities of the Hakata Bay NEXT Conference. Costs for the founding of the JBE and the national demonstration project were minimized by streamlining administrative procedures and personnel.