2022/10/06 A side event at the ICEF 2022 Annual Meeting

Outline of ‘the ICEF Blue Carbon
Roadmap: carbon captured by theworld’s coastal and oceanecosystems’
Dr. Atsushi Watanabe(Senior Fellow, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation)

“Blue Carbon Roadmap: Carbon captured by the world’s coastal andocean ecosystems”- This roadmap focuses on blue carbon, as
one of the negative emission technologies(NETs), captured and stored by 1)
mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrasses
in the coastal zone, and 2) the cultivation ofmacroalgae such as kelp and sargassum,which has been remarkably advanced inrecent years.
- The roadmap presents the potentials forcarbon removals towards 2050, challenges
in measurement, reporting and verification(MRV) for carbon credits, and innovativetechnologies that can be used for MRV.

- Contents- Executive Summary- Chapter 1: Introduction: Blue Carbon
from its birth to its growth- Chapter 2: Where we are? Scientificunderstandings of blue carbon
components- Chapter 3: Current and futuretechnologies to scale the blue carbon- Technological challenges (including
innovative technologies formonitoring)- Environmental concerns- Chapter 4: Policy and institutional
requirements- Chapter 5: Potentials of carbon removalsby and credits from blue carbon
2Chapter 1: Introduction: Blue Carbon from its birth to its growth

SCIENCE
IPCC (1988-)

IPCC Guideline(2013)

IPCC SR(2019)

IPCC AR6(2022)

UNEP report (2009)
Requested“Wetland Guideline”（2010）POLICYUNFCCC (1992-)

COPs3

Chapter 2: Where we are? Scientific understandings of blue carbon
components

Established blue carbon

Emerging blue carbon

Lovelock and Duarte (2018)

More recent scientific knowledge on the long-term storage of macroalgal blue carbon should be explored.
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Chapter 3: Current and future technologies to scale the blue carbon••

Technological challenges (including innovative technologies for monitoring)
Environmental concerns

1. Technology to Create: Seedling production,
Floating farming platform, IMTA, Offshore wind& kelp farm
2. Technology to Protect: Remove and use grazers(Sea urchins)
3. Technology to Use: Food, Bioenergy, Feed,Fertilizer, Cosmetics, Drugs, New materials
4. Technology to Measure: Airborne Lidar
Bathymetry, Auto-drones, Automatic
identification of macroalgal bed (machinelearning), In-situ real-time monitoring, EIA forlarge-scale farming (cost effectiveness)

Kelp farming(Source) Oita Prefecture5

Chapter 3: Current and future technologies to scale the blue carbon••

Technological challenges (including innovative technologies for monitoring)
Environmental concerns

ICEF roadmap (2018)

1. Possible impacts fromlarge-scale macroalgal
farming on deep-sea
biological communities(Ricart et al. 2022);
2. Life cycle
environmental impactsof macroalgal farming(plastic ropes, CO2
release during drying)(van Oirschot et al.
2017)
3. Risk of reversal (ICEF,2018)
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Chapter 4: Policy and institutional requirements• To be included in the inventory as a sink under theUNFCCC;• To be included in the NDCs;• To develop a new IPCC guideline to accommodate
macroalgal blue carbon;• To answer if deep-sea storage of macroalgae meetsthe requirements under the London
Convention/London Protocol;• To satisfy offset carbon criteria (The Core Carbon
Principles)• To coordinate with other stakeholders in the seaarea, such as fishers and port managers.

IPCC Guideline(2013)

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CO2 sink (10,000 t-CO2/yr.)

Chapter 5: Potentials of carbon removals by and credits from blue
carbonShallow water ecosystem(upper limit)

Shallow water ecosystem(standard value)

ForestAgricultural soil carbon

Urban greening

J Blue Credit

Today

2030

Kuwae et al. (2019) (in Japanese)

2022: 65tCO2e/yr.
2030: ~10,000t
2050: ~1,000,000t

8Chapter 5: Potentials of carbon removals by and credits from blue
carbonBlue Carbon Potential
0.32-0.89 GtCO2e/yr. by 2030
and0.4-1.5 GtCO2e/yr. by 2050
(Ocean Panel, 2019; McKinsey2022)
Blue Carbon Credit
0.3 MtCO2e/yr. in 2020
VCMs will develop by a factor of15 by 2030 and 100 by 2050

Modified after McKinsey (2022)

9Timeline<Schedule>
Blue Carbon Roadmap
6th Oct.
15th Oct.
15th Nov.
30th Nov.
28th Dec.
TBD

Present an outline at ICEF 2022, open for public comment
End of public comments
Present a draft at COP27, open for public comment
End of public comments
Finalize
Present at an event and release10