A report from conservation charity WWF in partnership with insurance giant Aviva highlights the important role of saltmarshes around the UK’s coasts in tackling climate change and protecting coastal communities.
The report reveals findings from a solar-powered “carbon flux tower”, funded by Aviva, which measures the exchange of key greenhouse gas carbon dioxide between the air and the saltmarsh on the Ribble Estuary, Lancashire.
It is a technique already used to monitor carbon capture and releases in other vital habitats such as woodlands and peatlands, but has now been adapted and applied to saltmarsh, with the Ribble Estuary producing the first results from a new network of towers.
>> In Other News: Trump Administration Terminates Award for Kentucky Carbon Capture Project
The carbon flux tower used to measure carbon dioxide levels on the Ribble Estuary (Andrew Parkinson/WWF UK/PA)
The data show the habitat is a significant “sink” or store of carbon dioxide, and while there are seasonal fluctuations in storage and release of the gas, the amount absorbed during the spring and summer outweighs what is released during the autumn and winter months.
WWF and Aviva are calling for saltmarshes to be included in the UK’s “greenhouse gas inventory” – the official record of the country’s emissions and removals which is used to track progress towards reducing climate pollution to zero overall, known as net zero.
The two organisations argue that including saltmarshes would improve national reporting and help unlock funding and policy supporting the habitat’s protection and restoration.
Experts warn that 85% of the UK’s saltmarshes, which provide wildlife habitat, carbon capture and natural flood management through slowing the movement of seawater inland, have been lost since the mid 19th century.
The remaining habitat plays a crucial role in shielding coasts from rising seas and storm surges, helping protect assets worth more than £200 billion in England and Wales, the report said.
But with climate change driving rising sea levels, the new report, produced in collaboration with the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the RSPB, assesses how the country’s remaining marshes are faring as waters rise.
To find out if saltmarshes were able to maintain their height above sea level, the conservationists set up a network of surface elevation tables, which measure how marsh height changes over time, across six UK saltmarshes.
The assessment found that generally saltmarshes were gaining height, although the results varied by region.
Saltmarshes are important habitats for wildlife, as well as carbon stores and protection for coastal communities (Rose Summers/WWF-UK/PA)
Marshes in areas such as Chichester and The Wash in East Anglia appear to be expanding, while those in North Norfolk and the Ribble are showing signs of struggling in the face of rising sea levels, the report said.
Tom Brook, ocean conservation specialist at WWF, said: "The results are in, and mud matters. Saltmarshes are powerful natural allies in the fight against climate change – storing carbon, protecting our coasts and supporting rich biodiversity.
"As extreme weather and rising sea levels put more people and places at risk, the case for protecting and restoring these habitats has never been stronger.
"This research adds to a growing body of evidence showing that saltmarshes are not just ecologically important but essential to building a resilient, net zero future."
Follow the money flow of climate, technology, and energy investments to uncover new opportunities and jobs.
Inside This Issue 💸 Trump Administration Cancels $3.7 Billion in Clean Energy Projects, Ending Ambitious Industrial Decarbonization Efforts 🌊 A New Protocol for Carbon Removal via Direct Ocean Cap...
Inside This Issue ⚡ Energy Department Removes Barriers for American Energy Producers, Unleashing Investment in Domestic Hydrogen 🛳️ MASH Makes Powers First Vessel Trial With Biofuel From a Carbon-...
Inside This Issue 🛢️ Conestoga Energy Completes Drilling of Class VI Carbon Capture & Sequestration Well, Advances Toward EPA Application 🏗️ How Microsoft and Sublime Systems Are Reinventing C...
FedEx Takes Delivery of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) from Neste at LAX
One-year, over three-million-blended gallon deal marks the first major U.S. SAF deployment by FedEx, building upon years of successful fuel efficiency improvements in its air operations. Shanghai,...
Cancellation of funding agreement for the Lebec Net Zero project by the US Department of Energy The US Department of Energy (DOE)**, Office of Clean Energy Demonstration has notified the US subsid...
Qnergy Sells Carbon Credits to Climate Investment from Landfill Methane Abatement Project in Utah
OGDEN, UT, UNITED STATES, June 3, 2025 -- Qnergy, a leading methane abatement solutions provider to the oil and gas and waste management industries, has successfully completed the sale of high-qual...
CarbonQuest Enters Food & Beverage Industry with On-Site CO2 Capture and Reuse Technology
CarbonQuest’s technology enables customers to recycle and reuse a resilient supply of ISBT beverage-grade CO2 on-site SPOKANE, Wash.--CarbonQuest, a leading distributed carbon capture technology p...
Follow the money flow of climate, technology, and energy investments to uncover new opportunities and jobs.