Polar Blue Carbon Status: Towards Its Recognition and Integration into Marine Policy

The polar oceans can play an important role in storing carbon and maintaining biodiversity, but current scientific and regulatory frameworks are not yet ready to fully recognize their potential. That’s the conclusion of a new review by an international team of polar scientists from Horizon Europe’s POMP (Potential Mitigation of the Polar Ocean) project. The study assesses what is currently known about “polar blue carbon” – carbon captured, stored or transported by Arctic and Antarctic marine ecosystems. The authors examine which polar habitats could contribute to long-term carbon storage, what factors limit their inclusion in current regulatory frameworks, and what is required to better integrate them into climate and conservation strategies.

“Polar marine ecosystems are changing rapidly. Some habitats could become more important as carbon stocks, while others could be weakened by warming, ice loss, erosion and increasing human pressure. We need to understand these systems much better, but we shouldn’t wait for all the uncertainties to clear up to protect the most vulnerable and carbon-rich habitats,” says Nadescha Zwerschke, lead author and member of the Department of Biology at Aarhus University.

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