Thread by @AndrewSErickson

There’s a gaping (loop)hole in #climate reporting, calculations & countermeasures—#BlueCarbon!

Must finally put #Seabed #CarbonSink on agenda for #COP26...

Here too #China leads world in #carbon damage—by far.

Time for accountability on #RoadToGlasgow!

foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/10/chi…

#Ocean covers 71% of world’s surface..<10% mapped w/ modern sonar.

Salt marshes, mangroves, seagrass beds & ultra-deep abyssal #seabed absorb large quantities of #CO2 from atmosphere & balancing critical #climate systems.

Disrupting risks grave & potentially irreversible harms

.@Nature: “#marine sediments are the largest pool of organic #carbon on the planet.”

Est. vol. ~7 trillion metric tons—>3X cumulative anthropogenic #CO2 emissions since 1750.

Bottom trawl #fishing & #seabed mining—both #PRC-led—risk damaging disruption.

foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/10/chi…

Disrupting millennia-old #Seabed #CarbonSink sequestration processes before we even partially understand them risks grave & potentially irreversible #climate harms.

@POTUS/@SecBlinken/@ClimateEnvoy, please put #BlueCarbon on #RoadToGlasgow/#COP26 agenda!

foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/10/chi…

#PRC is world’s largest bottom #trawler & #seabed disruptor.

#PRC-domiciled/controlled vessels presently account for 28% of entire global bottom trawl #fishing catch.

PRC-affiliated vessels fish not just in #China’s own littoral but also farther afield.

foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/10/chi…

#China’s distant-water #fishing fleet includes at least 1,800 #trawlers.

Definitely world’s largest by far. Likely considerably higher.

Operate both in China’s exclusive economic zone (#EEZ) & global #oceans.

Key unreported factor in #climate equation!

foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/10/chi…

#China is the world’s leading #emitter of #trawling-associated #CO2, with about 770 million metric tons

(half of estimated global trawling-related emissions)

released per year from trawling within its own #EEZ alone—to say nothing of its massive #global #fishing operations...

But bottom trawl weights are not the only #PRC-controlled implements agitating the #carbon-critical #seabed.

#PRC firms are now among the world’s largest holders of subsea #mining leases, with many focused on the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ)..

foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/10/chi…

..a sprawling oceanic expanse south of Hawaii rich in #PolymetallicNodules containing cobalt, manganese, nickel, #RareEarths & other metals critical to production of batteries/motors for #ElectricVehicles, wind turbines & other #GreenEnergy infrastructure.
foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/10/chi…

CCFZ = ecologically rich zone of substantial #carbon sequestration. Disturbing seafloor could also create additional unintended climate consequences—incl. disruption of hydrates that release large quantities of #methane, a greenhouse gas proportionally far more powerful than #CO2

Under existing international arrangements, some categories of #maritime #climate-influencing activities are relatively well covered...

(#Oceanic #shipping, together with its consumption of #bunker #fuel & related #emissions, is closely monitored by @IMOHQ & industry analysts.)

Disruptions to #carbon-relevant seabed & marine ecosystem are currently neither systematically measured nor reported by #China (or any other nation)...

...despite the leading role #PRC-affiliated fishers, & increasingly miners, play in those disruptions.

foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/10/chi…

2013 @IPCC_CH guidelines update finally added #CoastalWetlands as a category for recommended reporting & offers: “Guidance on specified management activities in coastal areas of mangroves, tidal marshes & seagrass meadows.” But “seabed” doesn’t appear anywhere in 354-page report.

The @IPCC_CH’s most recent guidelines update, the voluminous “2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National #GreenhouseGas Inventories,” similarly lacks even a single mention of the word “#seabed.”

To date, #IPCC has not issued guidelines regarding #ocean sediments...

Lack of guidelines re. responsibility for/measurement of #GreenhouseGas impact of #seabed disruption is a staggering #loophole—amid sweeping land-based #climate proposals that can re-shape lives, communities, economies & geopolitics rapidly, radically & potentially irreversibly.

Internationally accepted data & reporting requirements for #GreenhouseGas inventories are based on the @IPCC_CH-issued guidelines.

The specifics of compliance are entirely voluntary in nature—a flexibility #China uses to pursue its own priorities.

foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/10/chi…

#IPCC

Per @IPCC_CH Guidelines, there are 3 tiers of reporting for each of ~80 #GreenhouseGas compounds.

The US typically provides facility-level reporting—equivalent to #IPCC’s Tier 3 (highest-quality) standard.

ipcc.ch/report/2006-ip…

unfccc.int/process-and-me…

#RoadToGlasgow #COP26

In contrast to US, #China’s most recent inventory—
“The People’s Republic of China 2nd Biennial Update Report on #Climate Change”—is laden with the generalities typical of #PRC white papers...
& thin on specific data & methodologies by which data were obtained & assessments made.

#China’s #ClimateChange report is far less substantive, rigorous & current than its highly transparent, frequently updated U.S. counterpart:

epa.gov/ghgemissions/i…

Here too, Beijing is not being clear, sincere, or ambitious in its #climate efforts on the #RoadToGlasgow/#COP26.

#BlueCarbon must be tackled in the run-up to #COP26.

US also needs to devote more attention & effort to marine ecosystem & climate issues...

but at least it is already taking some proactive steps to acknowledge, probe, & protect blue carbon sinks, & to help others do the same.

Examples of US support for #marine ecosystems & their #climate contributions include @NOAA providing ongoing data support for US #GreenhouseGas inventory & international capacity building to help partner nations estimate their #BlueCarbon storage levels.

…licoceanservice.blob.core.windows.net/oceanservicepr…

#China’s emissions within #IPCC reporting #loopholes must be fully acknowledged & accounted for by US officials & foreign partners as they formulate #climate diplomacy.

#Beijing must also acknowledge its leading #BlueCarbon stewardship responsibility & take action accordingly.

If there is one substantive breakthrough that could emerge on the #RoadToGlasgow over the next two months before the #COP26 summit...

...it might be major stakeholders beginning to discuss #BlueCarbon’s #climate criticality for the first time on a prominent international stage.

Given #China’s central role in disrupting #oceanic #carbon storage in particular, a verifiable reduction in bottom #trawling & other destructive practices by #PRC-affiliated firms & entities would be a positive indicator of broader #Chinese commitment to real #climate progress.

Rather than problematic negotiations that risk playing into the Party line, finally putting #BlueCarbon on the table with #China for #COP26 in #Glasgow this November could become a defining part of @ClimateEnvoy #Kerry’s historic #climate legacy.

#THREAD

foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/10/chi…