Integrated Carbon Management – Valuing the Ocean

Partners: IFM-GEOMAR, Germany; CAU Kiel, Germany; Muthesius University of Fine Arts, Germany

The increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration is one of the main reasons for global warming. Nevertheless, the carbon stock in the atmosphere is growing continuously. This growth depends not only on global economic activity and the carbon intensity of the economy but also on the effectiveness of the natural carbon sinks, the terrestrial biosphere and the ocean. The Kyoto Protocol already contains management options for the terrestrial biosphere, land-use change and afforestation. However, the absolute value of the long-run atmospheric carbon stabilization level and the time pattern of its achievement will depend crucially on the marine carbon cycle. Management options regarding the marine carbon cycle are still rare in the economic analysis of climate change. But the effects of anthropogenic carbon emissions cannot properly be assessed without including its effects on the ocean, e.g. neglecting the external costs of ocean acidification results in a too high atmospheric carbon stabilization goal. Additionally, the resulting oceanic changes determine the risk content associated with the various emissions paths, regarding the impact of large scale effects like the shutdown of the thermohaline circulation or the destabilisation of methane hydrate reservoirs. But including the ocean within the economic analysis does allow considering various management options which can decrease the costs of climate change mitigation.

Contact: Katrin Rehdanz 
More on The Future Ocean 
More on Integrated Carbon Management – Valuing the Ocean