Climate Impact Partners and Deloitte, in collaboration with Project Seagrass and the UK’s National Oceanography Centre, have announced a program to fund UK seagrass recovery and unlock long-term finance to save and reinstate vital seagrass meadows.
Seagrass is crucial for sequestering carbon, protecting coastlines and supporting marine biodiversity. Scientists estimate 10% of the total organic carbon sequestered in the ocean is buried in the soils below seagrass meadows, which also buffer coastal communities from the full impact of waves and protect coastlines from erosion. Experts estimate that one-fifth of the world’s most-landed fish species use seagrass as nursery areas, including many commercially important species. Seagrass roots also stabilize ocean sediments.
But seagrass restoration has been underfunded, with nearly a third of seagrass lost globally in the last century. This program will fund critical research across UK seagrass meadows, mapping the ecosystems and developing methods to restore them at scale. Crucially, this work will support the development of a new seagrass carbon code in the UK and beyond – enabling companies to finance seagrass recovery at greater speed and scale.
It will also seek to address the barriers that prevent finance flowing to seagrass restoration, including improving the scientific knowledge of carbon sequestration, piloting new techniques for seagrass propagation and engaging communities in meadow restoration.
“Reaching net-zero will require the global economy to decarbonize as part of a connected system,” said Smruti Naik-Jones, Chief Sustainability Officer of Deloitte UK and North & South Europe. “This incredible seagrass program, developed by Climate Impact Partners, enables us to learn more about these marine ecosystems, fund critical research and help unlock a powerful tool in the fight against the climate crisis.”
This program forms a key part of Deloitte’s Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM) activities, supporting innovative solutions outside their value chain to catalyze environmental and social impact across the energy transition, circularity, sustainable food systems and nature restoration.
“Seagrass offers a unique opportunity to mitigate climate change while delivering significant co-benefits for biodiversity and coastal communities,” said Kirsty Schneeberger, Head of Product Innovation at Climate Impact Partners. “Imagine seagrass meadows as underwater vaults – they lock away enormous amounts of carbon for long periods, potentially millennia, as long as they remain healthy and undisturbed. We need to ensure they receive long-term and large-scale financing to accelerate the restoration and protection of these underwater wonders.”
In coordination with Project Seagrass, a team of volunteers from Deloitte and Climate Impact Partners helped harvest seedlings from a healthy seagrass meadow for the recovery program.
“Seagrass meadows are the powerhouses of coastal seas providing a nature-based solution to climate change, said Dr Claire Evans, Biogeochemist, the UK’s National Oceanography Centre. “They have been neglected for decades, which has led to their large-scale degradation and loss. This program exemplifies how we can turn that loss into an opportunity for environmental renewal through large-scale restoration.”
