BIO-Carbon endorsed as a UN Ocean Decade action

We are pleased to announce that the Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC) BIO-Carbon programme has been endorsed as a project contributing to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021–2030 (the ‘Ocean Decade’).

The Ocean Decade is a collective global initiative, with a transformative vision to harness ‘the science we need for the ocean we want’. It is inspiring new design, delivery and use of ocean knowledge to enable lasting change to our shared ocean.

The ocean stores huge amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂) that would otherwise be in the atmosphere. Marine organisms play a critical role in this process, but emerging evidence indicates that climate models are not fully accounting for their impact. This undermines carbon policies, such as national net zero targets. Research funded by the BIO-Carbon programme is improving understanding of biological processes and provide robust predictions of future ocean carbon storage in a changing climate.

Celebrating the endorsement, Dr Adrian Martin, BIO-Carbon champion said: “BIO-Carbon is an important and timely contribution by the UK to a pressing global issue. It is great to see this recognised in this endorsement by the UN Ocean Decade”