New policy brief launched: Integrating Blue Carbon Considerations into the Implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation

Developed by the Knowledge Hub’s Policy Working Group, this latest brief provides targeted recommendations to support the integration of blue carbon ecosystems into the implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation, with a particular focus on the preparation and delivery of National Restoration Plans.  

As the EU’s flagship legislation for ecosystem restoration, the Nature Restoration Regulation establishes legally binding targets to restore degraded ecosystems in the EU. The Regulation provides an important opportunity to position restoration as a cross-cutting priority for achieving the EU’s environmental, climate and resilience goals, and blue carbon ecosystems are particularly relevant to the implementation of the Regulation as they sit at the intersection of climate, biodiversity and marine policies. The policy brief highlights how Member States can better recognise the multiple benefits of these ecosystems in restoration planning, improve policy coherence across marine, climate and biodiversity frameworks, strengthen monitoring and reporting, and mobilise the financial resources needed to support long-term restoration efforts.  

This publication marks the conclusion of a series of three policy briefs developed by the JPI Oceans Blue Carbon Knowledge Hub to support the integration of blue carbon ecosystems into major European regulatory frameworks. 

The first brief, published in June 2025 and launched at the UN Ocean Decade Conference in Nice, focused on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), a cornerstone policy for the development of a common EU approach to blue carbon. 

The second brief, published in March 2026, examined the EU LULUCF Regulation and identified pathways to support EU policymakers and stakeholders to incorporate blue carbon ecosystems into major European regulatory frameworks. 

The full series will be presented and discussed at the policy event “Blue Carbon in EU Ocean, Climate and Biodiversity Policy: Presenting the JPI Oceans Policy Briefs”, co-organised by JPI Oceans and the Marine Institute ahead of the Atlantic Summit Galway 2026.

The broader objective of the JPI Oceans Blue Carbon Policy Working Group is to advance actionable and science-based recommendations that support the monitoring, protection and restoration of blue carbon ecosystems as part of Europe’s climate and biodiversity ambitions.