Emerging Opportunities for Coastal Wetland Carbon Projects

Emerging Opportunities for Coastal Wetland
Carbon Projects
COP 20 Side Event, Tuesday, 9 December,
www.silvestrum.com - info@silvestrum.com
Indonesia Pavilion
Dr. Moritz von Unger, Silvestrum

Coastal Wetland
Opportunities
• LULUCF and Wetlands in
the Current Climate
Architecture
• Main Barriers
• Emerging Opportunities
• Practical Considerations
Agenda
“Water is the best of
all things…” (Pindar)

LULUCF and Wetlands in the Current
Architecture

Architecture
• There are few coastal countries in the world
without a carbon intensive wetland ecosystems
• Tidal marshes, seagrass meadows and tidal forests
(such as mangroves) are under increasing threat
from conversion, degradation and sea-level rise
• 450 m tCO2eq. lost every year
• Both industrialized and developing countries are
affected

Architecture: UNFCCC
• “All Parties, taking into account their common but
differentiated responsibilities…, shall… promote
sustainable management, and promote and
cooperate in the conservation and enhancement,
of sinks and reservoirs…, including biomass,
forests and oceans as well as other terrestrial,
coastal and marine ecosystems… develop and
elaborate appropriate and integrated plans for
coastal zone management…“(Article 4.1)

Architecture: Implementation To Date
• Despite the clear mandate under the UNFCCC,
coastal wetlands had largely disappeared from
policy-making under the UNFCCC
• No specific reporting guidelines had emerged in
the first 20 years of the UNFCCC (see however
IPCC 2006 land-use chapter, wetlands 1 out of 6
categories)

Architecture: UNFCCC: Implementation To Date
• The Kyoto Protocol and the Marrakesh Accords
(under the mandate of Article 3.4 KP) ignored the
matter
• The flexible mechanisms, notably the Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM), did not offer a
financial mechanism outside mangrove
afforestation/reforestation
• Crediting was negligible (around 10 m temporary
credits)

Main Barriers

Main Barriers
• Kyoto Protocol designed as an accounting and
trading framework
• At the time of its adoption:
– accurate measurement formats were not yet
available
– Carbon cycle in vegetation was not deemed
compatible
– Risk of leakage
– Risk of non-permanence

Main Barriers
• Cross-cutting nature of coastal wetland protection
(mitigation and adaptation) became a barrier
(non-responsibility)
• Lack of policy knowledge about below-ground/
sea-level carbon stocks

Emerging Opportunities

• Growing understanding of climatic value of coastal
wetlands grew from the adaptation work under
the UNFCCC
• Wetland Drainage and Rewetting (WDR) category
in Article 3.4 KP since 2011
• 2013 IPCC Supplement on Wetlands
• Opening of LULUCF categories within the CDM

• Warsaw Framework for REDD+
• NAMAs and LULUCF (60% of countries)
• Platform to discuss 2015 Agreement (Ad hoc
Working Group on the Durban Platform or “ADP”)
addresses LULUCF and REDD
• New momentum: Green Climate Fund (scaling up
from projects to country-wide interventions)

Emerging Opportunities: Voluntary Markets
• A number of voluntary standards recognizes wetland
interventions
• Verified Carbon Standard (500 m USD transaction
value in 2013): 4 wetland related methodologies are
currently undergoing approval process
• American Carbon Registry
• UK Peatland Carbon Code
• Germany: MoorFutures

Practical Considerations

• Policy
Caveat
• 2015 Agreement is far from
secured
• How to address and incentivize
LULUCF/Wetlands in 2015
Agreement far from clear (holistic
accounting, landscape approach,
differences Annex I/Non-Annex
I/permanence etc.
• CDM/LULUCF has been
postponed this week/COP 20

• Policy
Caveat
• REDD+ does not fully cover
coastal wetlands
• Differentiation emission
reductions vs. sequestration
remains little understood
• Robust climate finance format for
“Coastal Wetlands” or “Blue
Carbon” not yet developed, let
alone tested
• Eligibility for Green Climate Fund
funding?

• Market
Caveat
• International carbon prices are
depressed
• The CDM spot market is close to
0 USD
• The voluntary markets fare
better, yielding 5 USD and more,
but demand is limited (about 100
m credits per year)
• REDD+ credits has started
flooding the market
• Prices vary heavily

• Implementa
tion Caveat
• Running a coastal conservation or
regeneration intervention is not
simple
• Engineering, natural threats,
ecosystem users, ecological
leakage etc.
• Running a coastal carbon project
on top of it, makes the
intervention even more complex:
• Carbon documentation
• Identification of a long-term project
entity
• Carbon rights and title

And yet the benefits by far outweigh the risks…
• Practitioners cannot control the process towards the
2015 Agreement, but they can develop robust
blueprints for coastal wetland and coastal carbon
interventions
• They can, in particular, present a robust NAMA
template (addressing measurement/ MRV, ambition,
co-benefits, long-term goals etc.)
• They can also raise awareness and work towards
clear country prioritization on both mitigation and
adaptation.

Merits of a Carbon Project
• Cover for a portion of the costs and link the
intervention to other climate finance streams (also
increasing domestic credit demand);
• Create a long-term financial prospect that secures
maintenance and management for 30+ years;
• Turn donors into investors with a long-term
commitment for the future;
• Provide a good common metric for project
evaluation; and
• Produce exact figures for policy makers on mitigation
benefits, abatement costs and longevity

Roadmap to a Successful Coastal Carbon Project
• Assess the technical, operational, legal and financial
needs of the intervention, before you start
• Engage with all affected communities
• Assess public and private funding opportunities
• Prepare for the creation of a project entity (existing
or special purpose vehicle) (public, private or mixed)
• Benefit from the direct and indirect carbon
commodity benefits, and
• …demonstrate that investing in coastal wetland
conservation and restoration is feasible!

Thank you.
For more information:
Dr. Moritz von Unger
moritz.von.unger@silvestrum.com;
+491794716457

Emerging Opportunities for Coastal Wetland Carbon Projects

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