Thanks Carbon and LG CHEM are conducting a seagrass habitat restoration project near Daekyungdo, Yeosu.
Thanks Carbon noted on the 26th that it had transplanted 50,000 seagrasses in the waters off Yeosu, Jeollanam-do, in October 2023, followed by an additional 20,000 in November 2024.
Seagrass is a type of marine plant that blooms underwater and is one of the three major marine carbon sinks officially certified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), along with mangrove forests and salt marshes. Blue carbon refers to the carbon absorbed by marine ecosystems such as oceans and wetlands, which absorbs carbon at a rate 50 times faster and has over five times the carbon storage capacity compared to green carbon, the carbon sinks on land.
Thanks Carbon and LG CHEM confirmed through two rounds of monitoring that the restoration of seagrass habitats contributes to the recovery of the marine ecosystem. In the first-year monitoring, 98 species of large benthic invertebrates were observed in the seagrass transplant areas, and in the second year, 32 species of large benthic invertebrates were identified in the additional transplant areas.
As the seagrass habitat maintains stable growth, it expanded to 46.146 hectares, about 2 hectares larger than before in the second year. The total area increased by 3.4 hectares since the first year, which is equivalent to the size of four soccer fields. The transplanted seagrass is expected to establish itself stably and continuously expand its colony, and considering the seagrass sediment layers, it is anticipated to absorb 1,000 to 1,700 tons of carbon annually.
Lee Young-jun, head of the CSR team at LG CHEM, said, “We confirmed again in the results of the second year, following the first year, that the seagrass habitat significantly contributes to the recovery of the marine ecosystem and climate change response,” adding, “Based on this achievement, we plan to conduct continuous monitoring to analyze changes in the ecosystem and verify long-term restoration effects.”