Climate Impact Partners and Deloitte Join Forces to Unlock Large-Scale Seagrass Recovery Financing

LONDON, Oct. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Climate Impact Partners and Deloitte, in collaboration with Project Seagrass and the UK's National Oceanography Centre, announce a groundbreaking program to fund UK seagrass recovery and unlock long-term finance to save and reinstate vital seagrass meadows.

The 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.

Despite seagrass' crucial role in sequestering carbon, protecting coastlines, and supporting marine biodiversity; seagrass restoration has been underfunded, with nearly a third of seagrass lost globally in the last century. This program will look 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.

This program forms a key part of Deloitte's Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM) activities, supporting innovative solutions outside their value chain. Deloitte is using skills, influence and targeted investment to catalyze environmental and social impact across the energy transition, circularity, sustainable food systems and nature 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."

"Deloitte is demonstrating true climate leadership through this program. 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."

"We need to protect and restore seagrass whilst supporting the continuation of sustainable human activities that occur amongst or depend directly upon seagrass ecosystems, said Dr Leanne Cullen-Unsworth, Chief Executive Officer and Charity Co-Founder, Project Seagrass. "We need to do this now, as a connected global community. This program helps to deliver this."

"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."

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.

For further information please contact Hannah Blackmore:
Hannah.blackmore@climateimpact.com
+44 (0)2045 703147

Notes to editors:

About Climate Impact Partners 

Climate Impact Partners is a leader in developing and delivering high-quality, high-impact carbon market solutions for climate action. For more than 25 years, the company has worked with climate-leading businesses to support more than 600 carbon removal and reduction projects in 56 countries. With a focus on helping to transform the global economy, improve health and livelihoods and restore a thriving planet, Climate Impact Partners develops and delivers the highest quality carbon-financed projects. It creates and manages carbon credit and energy attribute certificate portfolios that enable its clients to offset emissions they can't yet reduce, put a price on carbon to incentivize change, and meet ambitious climate goals. Climate Impact Partners builds on the expertise, integrity, and innovation of two companies that have led the voluntary carbon market – Natural Capital Partners and ClimateCare. Learn more at www.climateimpact.com

About Deloitte

In this press release references to "Deloitte" are references to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited ("DTTL") a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of DTTL and its member firms. Deloitte LLP is a subsidiary of Deloitte NSE LLP, which is a member firm of DTTL, and is among the UK's leading professional services firms. The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press. For more information, please visit www.deloitte.co.uk.

WorldClimate is our transformation to become a sustainable firm, with science-based targets for reducing our carbon footprint. This requires holistic thought and action, so we're making sustainability central to how we work. We're inspiring and empowering our people to own the change, collaborating with external partners, and sharing the experience with our clients.

About Project Seagrass

Established in 2013 by a group of seagrass scientists, Project Seagrass is a global facing marine conservation organisation securing a future for seagrass. They do this by creating, empowering, and collaborating with communities; by leading, championing and communicating scientific research; and taking direct action to map, conserve, and restore seagrass meadows globally. Project Seagrass seek to reach a world in which seagrass meadows are thriving, abundant, and well managed for people and planet.

About the UK's National Oceanography Centre (NOC)

The UK's National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is one of the world's top ocean research institutions. NOC work around the globe from the coast to the deep ocean, delivering world-class agenda-setting scientific research and technology development. NOC underpin international and UK public policy, business, and societal outcomes by solving challenging multidisciplinary, large scale, long-term marine science problems.   

NOC operates the Royal Research Ships James Cook and Discovery and develops cutting-edge technology for coastal and deep ocean research. Working with its partners NOC provides long-term marine science capability including: sustained ocean observations, mapping and surveying; data management and scientific research and advice.   

Among the resources that NOC provides on behalf of the UK are the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC), the Marine Autonomous and Robotic Systems (MARS) facility, the National Marine Equipment Pool (NMEP), the National Tide and Sea Level Facility (NTSLF), the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) and British Ocean Sediment Core Research Facility (BOSCORF). 

NOC is a company limited by guarantee set up under the law of England and Wales (11444362) and registered as a charity (1185265). 

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