Rice University, BCarbon and Scenic Galveston have launched an innovative project to protect the Kohfeldt Marsh near Texas City from sea level rise through the design and creation of a living shoreline.
Rice University, BCarbon and Scenic Galveston have launched an innovative project to protect the Kohfeldt Marsh near Texas City from sea level rise through the design and creation of a living shoreline. The effort combines land conservation with carbon credit financing, supporting marshland resilience against erosion and climate change. As part of a special credit course, Rice students will be actively involved in the design of the shoreline.
The estimated $1 million construction cost of the project will be recovered through carbon credits issued under BCarbon’s living shoreline blue carbon protocol. Carbon credits are permits that allow companies to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide, with each credit representing one metric ton, and can be traded or offset by reducing emissions elsewhere. The living shoreline reduces emissions via the preservation and enhancement of coastal ecosystems—such as mangroves, seagrasses and salt marshes—which naturally absorb and hold large amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The term “blue carbon” refers to the carbon captured and stored by these ecosystems. The project will be the first of its kind to be implemented using this new protocol, which has been developed over the past two years by coastal scientists, engineers and conservationists.
“BCarbon was started out of a stakeholder process at the Baker Institute at Rice University for this very purpose — to design and implement creative approaches that will become a part of the economy of the future,” said Jim Blackburn, CEO of BCarbon and professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice. “Nature has value, particularly relative to removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at a time when we need to remove a lot of carbon dioxide. This project represents one small step in the ongoing transition to what will become the economy of the 21st century.”
Read More: Rice University
Photo Credit: Gustavo Raskosky/Rice University
