Addressing calcium carbonate cycling in blue carbon accounting

There is considerable interest in measuring the capacity of the world's ecosystems to trap and store excess atmospheric carbon dioxide to mitigate human-induced climate change. Blue carbon describes the carbon storage potential of vegetated coastal ecosystems including tidal marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses. Efforts are now underway to include blue carbon in global carbon offset schemes by managing these ecosystems to enhance carbon sequestration by focusing on their effect on organic carbon processing. However, it is unclear what role inorganic carbon processing in blue carbon ecosystems plays in their overall carbon sequestration. Here, we argue that there are key uncertainties that will need to be addressed before we can account for this important process to more accurately estimate carbon offsets in blue carbon ecosystems.