Supplemental data for California blue carbon case studies from 'Incorporating blue carbon sequestration benefits into sub-national climate policies'

This dataset consists of a CSV spreadsheet representing metric tonnes of carbon sequestration (T CO2) and economic value (USD) using the high, mean, low values of the range of estimated carbon sequestration. This is a supplemental data file for the following publication: Wedding et al. 2021. Incorporating blue carbon sequestration into sub-national policies. Science of the Total Environment. 102206 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102206

We used a range of carbon sequestration values to measure carbon sequestration (T CO2e) in 2016 (start of modeling), 2030, 2060, and 2100. We chose these time points because they are commonly used in coastal planning horizons. We estimated the net present value (USD) of carbon sequestration (removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere) as an ecosystem service at 2030, 2060, and 2100. We used two metrics of valuation: (1) price of one metric tonne of carbon on the California Carbon Exchange (assuming the cost of carbon remained stable over the analysis period), (2) the Social Cost of Carbon, or the cost of societal damages from each additional tonne of carbon in the atmosphere. We generated these estimates using the InVEST Coastal Blue Carbon Model from the Natural Capital Project (https://naturalcapitalproject.stanford.edu).

For all three case study locations, we projected the values of carbon metrics if the marsh extent were to remain stable across the modeling period. This was referred to as the No Change scenario. Additionally, for Humboldt Bay, we modeled the restoration of McDaniel Slough (McDaniel Slough Restoration scenario).