Blue carbon ecosystems, including salt marshes, seagrass meadows, and mangrove forests, and increasingly, non-vegetated systems such as macroalgae, unvegetated mudflats, and the water column, play a vital role in capturing and storing carbon, thereby contributing to global climate regulation. Their conservation and restoration not only mitigate climate change but also provide critical co-benefits such as enhancing ecosystem resilience, protecting biodiversity and supporting coastal adaptation.
Yet these ecosystems are increasingly at risk. Climate change impacts (e.g., sea-level rise) and anthropogenic pressures such as coastal development, pollution, dredging, bottom-trawling, and tourism continue to threaten their extent and functions.
The importance of protecting and restoring blue carbon ecosystems is embedded in both European and international frameworks, including the EU Nature Restoration Regulation and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. This Call is also closely aligned with the objectives of the UN Ocean Decade and its Global Programme for Blue Carbon (GO-BC), contributing to international efforts to generate knowledge and solutions for climate and biodiversity action.
The scope of this call builds directly on the State-of-the-Art report of the JPI Oceans Blue Carbon Knowledge Hub (led by Ireland, and including Germany, Greece, Malta, Norway, Portugal, and the United Kingdom). This report identified research priorities and provided the scientific foundation for the thematic focus of the call.
Based on the scientific input in the State-of-the-Art report and consultation with participating countries, this Joint Call will fund projects addressing one or more of the following themes:
- Understanding carbon stocks and fluxes at local and regional scales
- Understanding blue carbon ecosystems’ resilience and vulnerability to climate change and anthropogenic activities
- Effectiveness and scalability of restoration and protection measures
Projects are expected to generate knowledge that contributes to several of the following outcomes:
- Scientific data and models on carbon and GHG fluxes
- Standardised methodologies and intercalibration protocols, to allow a direct comparison across different ecosystems
- Policy-relevant and management recommendations, including best practices for restoration and protection of ecosystems
- Contributions to EU and national planning and reporting obligations
- Knowledge products for use by national/regional authorities and stakeholders
Proposals should also:
- Clearly align with one or more of the thematic areas listed above
- Demonstrate relevance to EU and/or national policy frameworks
- Include plans for stakeholder engagement and knowledge transfer
- Outline how results will support sustainable management
Each application must involve eligible research partners from at least three participating countries (countries of the funding partners); no maximum number of partners is specified. Applicants from countries not funding this call may participate as associate partners with their own resources (cash or in-kind).
- Launch of the Call: 4 November 2025
- Deadline for submitting proposals: 28 February 2026 - 17:00 CET
- End of peer-review process: 31 April 2026
- Inform positively ranked institutions: 7 May 2026
- Start of projects: before 15 December 2026
Marine Institute, Ireland
Research Council of Norway, Norway
Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), Germany
Xjenza Malta, Malta
National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR), Poland
Marine Environmental Observation, Prediction and Response Network (MEOPAR), Canada
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Greece (in-kind)
Please note that the listed funding partners are still preliminary. A definitive list of funding partners will be available at the call launch foreseen on 4 November.