Christine Merk, Jonas Grunau, Marie‐Catherine Riekhof, Wilfried Rickels
Kiel Institute for the World Economy ISSN 1862–1155 KIEL WORKING PAPER NO. 2201 | NOVEMBER 2021
THE NEED FOR LOCAL GOVERNANCE OF GLOBAL COMMONS: THE EXAMPLE OF BLUE CARBON ECOSYSTEMS Christine Merk, Jonas Grunau, Marie‐Catherine Riekhof, Wilfried Rickels To limit global warming to °C, vast amounts of CO2 will have to be removed from the atmos‐ phere via Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR). Enhancing the CO2 sequestration of ecosystems will require not just one approach but a portfolio of CDR options, including so‐called nature‐based approaches alongside CDR options that are perceived as more technical. Creating a CDR “supply curve” would however imply that all CDR approaches are considered to be perfect substitutes. The various co‐benefits of nature‐based CDR approaches militate against this as their common‐ pool resource characteristics could result in undesired outcomes for CO2‐only incentive schemes. We discuss this aspect of nature‐based solutions in connection with the enhance‐ ment of blue carbon ecosystems (BCE) such as mangrove or seagrass habitats. Enhancing BCEs can indeed contribute to CO2 sequestration, but the value of their carbon storage is low com‐ pared to th