Valuing the Ocean Carbon Sink in Light of National Climate Action Plans

Signatory states to the Paris Agreement are required to formulate and implement national climate action (NCA) plans to direct their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) in reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) and in particular carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (UNFCCC, 2015). The NCA plans address CO2 management for all components of society, be it food, mobility, energy, or consumption. The extent to which NCA plans are in line with the overall targets will be assessed during global stocktakings, with the first one scheduled for 2023. Limiting global temperature increase by reducing GHG and CO2 emissions will depend crucially on natural, non-anthropogenic sink efficiency. The ocean currently removes 25%–30% of the CO2 emitted to the atmosphere by human activities (Friedlingstein et al., 2020), thereby providing, alongside other critical ecosystem services, an important societal wealth contribution via CO2 sequestration.