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The Nature Conservancy Aotearoa New Zealand has conducted research to assess the potential for funding coastal wetland restoration in Aotearoa New Zealand through blue carbon credits. Revenue from credits could support local communities and landowners to restore these critical ecosystems which help protect against the impacts of climate change.

In the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, revitalising these valuable wetlands has become a critical international priority, following research showing that restored coastal wetlands can capture as much carbon as native forests, as well as protecting coastal communities and endangered ecosystems from the impacts of climate change.

Coastal wetland ecosystems filter water, protect communities, homes, and livelihoods from coastal erosion and storms, as well as providing vital habitat and food sources for endemic invertebrate, plant and bird species.

Researchers gathered data at seven New Zealand sites (Northland, Kaipara, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Nelson and Tasman) on carbon storage and emissions, alongside financial modelling to evaluate the economic feasibility of blue carbon project development.

The study found that all sites in the study would have the potential to capture carbon and generate blue carbon credits. The extent to which those credits would cover the costs of restoration depends on the price carbon can be sold at, the scale of the project and the complexity of restoration. Project costs would vary greatly depending on the complexity of restoration required, ranging from approximately $20,000 (NZD) per hectare in a low-cost restoration scenario to over $350,000 per hectare when including full capital and operational expenditures.

At the scale of site tested, the carbon price would need to be anything from $300 (for sites >20 ha) to over $10,000 (for sites <10 ha) per tonne. However, combining sites and conducting restoration at larger scales is expected to lower costs and make restoration more achievable.

Having established there is potential for income from blue carbon credits, TNC NZ will carry out further investigations into finance options for restoration of coastal wetlands. These may include private and public funding for restoration to support climate resilience, or combining revenue from blue carbon credits with resilience and other biodiversity or emerging credits.

Resources such as TNC’s global Playbook for Climate Finance, and its network of experts can help to identify other ways that restoration could be economical.

When a coastal wetland is restored, it can capture CO2. If this carbon capture and storage is quantified and verified, it generates blue carbon credits.

Carbon credits are tradable on voluntary carbon markets for entities wanting to purchase carbon credits for their unavoidable GHG emissions. Revenue is used to fund and maintain restoration projects.

Projects must meet established standards and criteria, such as the Verified Carbon Standard or the Gold Standard, for carbon accounting and verification, alongside social and biodiversity outcomes.

Resilience credits are a new and emerging credit. Globally, TNC collaborated with partners to develop a resilience methodology under Verra’s Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard (SD VISta). This type of credit aims to create a way to finance adaptation measures that enhance a community’s or ecosystem’s resilience to climate change.

Two sites were also surveyed for their resilience credit potential using this developing methodology. However, the study concluded that the international resilience credit methodology tested was less suitable for New Zealand’s wetlands because they have been drained and land artificially protected by stopbanks to be used for agricultural activities and urban development.

To advance the use of coastal resilience credits in New Zealand, a bespoke methodology would need to be developed that integrates coastal wetland restoration alongside coastal defence redesign/upgrades. Given the urgent need for coastal adaptation and managed retreat to protect our communities, economy and livelihoods, this provides an opportunity to reimagine how low-lying coastal landscapes are managed in New Zealand for greater public benefit.

Long-term exposure to fine particulate matter like PM_2.5 components in polluted air can not only cause respiratory diseases, but also increase the risk of depression in older people, especially in those living with preexisting heart, metabolic and neurological conditions.

Depression has caused more loss of healthy life worldwide than any other mental health condition. This disorder has snatched away people's will to perform the basics of daily activities. An analysis of global health data in 2021 showed that all the years people lived with disability or reduced quality of life because of depression added up to about 56.3 million years.

A recent population-based cohort study collected data from nearly 23.7 million U.S. Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years and older between 2000 and 2018 to examine specific components of PM_2.5 exposure, both individually and in combination, and its associations with the risk of developing depression. Among those tracked, more than 5.5 million developed depression during the follow-up period. These findings are published in JAMA Network Open.

Diving deeper into the data revealed that those people living in areas with higher levels of fine air pollution were more likely to develop depression. A combination of specific components was more strongly linked to depression than overall pollution levels alone, and with every quartile increase in exposure to this mixture, the risk of developing depression rose by about 7%.

Fine particulate matter strikes again

Air pollution isn't caused by a single type of pollutant, it's a cocktail of invisible gases and fine particulate matter released from anthropogenic activities. Among them, PM_2.5—fine particulate matter that is less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter—is the most damaging when inhaled. Particles classified as are so small that they can penetrate the bloodstream and the lungs and even bypass the blood–brain barrier.

They can also trigger inflammation and oxidative stress, which is even more dangerous for people with existing comorbidities.

A growing body of research suggests that air pollution may play a role in depression. Several studies have linked exposure to polluted air to a higher risk of developing the condition, with many pointing to PM_2.5 as a key concern. However, not much was known about the specific components that were behind the increased odds of developing depression.

To find an answer, the researchers analyzed nationwide Medicare data from older adults across the United States. The team estimated each participant's yearly exposure to PM_2.5 and other air pollution components based on where they lived and then identified new cases of depression. The data was then fed through different statistical tools to reveal the links between air pollution and depression.

They found that long-term exposure to PM_2.5, particularly its sulfate, elemental carbon, and soil dust components, was associated with an increased risk of depression. The results also indicated that the association was more pronounced among older adults with existing metabolic, cardiovascular, or brain-related conditions.

The findings exposed one more pathway by which air pollution can affect a person's quality of life. Ensuring better public health requires stricter regulation of ambient PM_2.5, particularly from fossil-fuel combustion and vehicular emissions.

Written for you by our author Sanjukta Mondal, edited by Lisa Lock, and fact-checked and reviewed by Andrew Zinin—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive. If this reporting matters to you, please consider a donation (especially monthly). You'll get an ad-free account as a thank-you.

Yanling Deng et al, Exposure to Multiple Fine Particulate Matter Components and Incident Depression in the US Medicare Population, JAMA Network Open (2025). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.51042

The Arctic is warming four times faster than anywhere else on Earth - this is a warning sign for elsewhere on the planet. The shipping sector has been gifted an opportunity to cut black carbon emissions from shipping in the region, which would have a near-immediate positive impact. But time is tight, writes Dr. Sian Prior, Lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance, in this op-ed.

This is an opinion piece written by an external contributor. All views expressed are the writer's own.

December 5th is the deadline for countries to submit a crucial proposal for polar fuels, ahead of next February’s meeting of the International Maritime Organization’s Pollution Prevention and Response sub-committee (PPR13).

With the clock ticking, Arctic states must act without further delay, to make cleaner fuels mandatory for Arctic shipping in a unique region already seriously impacted by climate change. Arctic states can demonstrate joint leadership on this issue, as they vessels operating in polar waters, but they must be joined by other non-Arctic states.

The momentum and support for this important decision is building: the Nordic Council of Ministers has just made a recommendation for the Nordic governments to work towards the recognition of polar fuels by the IMO and the MARPOL Convention.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has spent more than a decade prevaricating over scientific analysis and discussions, yet black carbon emissions from Arctic shipping remain unregulated. February’s PPR meeting provides an opportunity to change this - with the deadline fast approaching, Arctic governments must put forward a concrete proposal to avoid squandering this chance.

By acting now, Arctic countries can demonstrate a unique opportunity for joint leadership on cutting black carbon emissions. They can do this by championing - and making a robust proposal for a regulation on polar fuels.

Black carbon is a short-lived climate superpollutant produced when fossil fuels are burned. It has a disproportionate impact because it both heats the atmosphere - and when released from ship exhausts near to the Arctic settles onto snow and ice, speeding up the melting and exposing darker land and sea beneath, which in turn absorbs more heat. This loss of the planet’s reflectivity - or albedo - is contributing to the fast pace of warming seen in the Arctic.

Black carbon emissions from ships burning oil-based fuels have more than doubled in the last decade, yet a simple and easy solution is to require shipping to use widely available distillate fuels with lower black carbon emissions and new zero-emission fuels when operating in and near to the Arctic.

Defining which fuels should be used in the polar regions, and in particular in the Arctic, this coming February is crucial, and Arctic countries must be a driving force in ensuring that regulations on these ‘polar fuels’ are put in place.

But first, they must meet the looming December 5th deadline.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — December 16, 2025 — LOOM Carbon and independent scientific research institute RTI International today announced a strategic research collaboration. The partnership will enable the scaling of LOOM’s proprietary thermal chemical recycling platform designed to transform non-recycled and hard-to-recycle textile waste into sustainable carbon-neutral materials.

Global textile waste exceeds 92 million tons annually, with recycling rates at less than 15%. This new partnership addresses this fast-growing environmental challenge by advancing a credible pathway to textile circularity.

LOOM Carbon’s process converts mixed and contaminated textiles into high value outputs that can re-enter industrial supply chains, including:

These pathways demonstrate how textile waste can be recycled into durable, circular products rather than being landfilled or incinerated.

“Together with RTI, Loom is demonstrating that blended textile waste can be recycled into valuable resources,” said Kimberly Landry, CEO of LOOM Carbon. “This collaboration moves us from pilot to commercial readiness proving textile waste is a resource, not a liability.”

This project will take place at RTI’s Pilot Xcelerator facility, which helps startups, commercial partners and government-funded teams to scale promising technologies from the lab to real-world applications quickly, affordably and with confidence.

“We are proud to leverage RTI’s world-class Pilot Xcelerator facility as well as our expertise in process engineering and emissions validation to help accelerate a proven, scalable solution to textile waste,” said David C. Dayton, Ph.D., Senior Fellow and Director of Biofuels at RTI International. “Together, we aim to deliver real, sustainable benefits as this technology moves toward commercial deployment.”

The 12-month program will focus on scaling LOOM’s system to process challenging textile waste streams, validating product quality, and preparing for commercial deployment. This will target the processing of millions of tons of textile waste annually in Southeast Asia, Europe, North America and other markets with emerging textile stewardship regulations. Industry partners interested in feedstock supply or offtake agreements are invited to contact LOOM Carbon.

Posted: December 16, 2025

Source: RTI International

South Africa is home to some of the oldest evidence of life on Earth, contained in rocky, often layered outcroppings called microbialites. Like coral reefs, these complex "living rocks" are built up by microbes absorbing and precipitating dissolved minerals into solid formations.

A new study, co-led by researchers at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and Rhodes University, suggests that these microbialites aren't just surviving—they're thriving.

The paper, published in , quantifies how microbialites along the South African coast take up carbon and turn it into fresh layers of calcium carbonate. They show how these structures utilize photosynthesis and chemical processes to absorb carbon day and night, relating those rates for the first time to the genetic makeup of the microbial community.

The findings highlight just how efficient these microbial mats are at removing dissolved carbon from their environment and sequestering it into stable mineral deposits.

"These ancient formations that the textbooks say are nearly extinct are alive and, in some cases, thriving in places you would not expect organisms to survive," said Senior Research Scientist Rachel Sipler, the study's lead author.

"Instead of finding ancient, slow-growing fossils, we've found that these structures are made up of robust microbial communities capable of growing quickly under challenging conditions."

Scientists have struggled to understand how these microbial communities interact with their environment based on data from fossilized remains of microbialites—some of which are billions of years old. Fortunately, living microbialites are still widely distributed.

Inspired by how these mats can produce compounds with direct human use, Sipler and her colleagues aimed to understand the underlying geochemical processes at play in this novel environment. Across several field expeditions over multiple years, the team examined four microbialite systems in southeastern South Africa where calcium-rich hard water seeps out of coastal sand dunes.

"The systems here are growing in some of the harshest and most variable conditions," Sipler said. "They can dry out one day and grow the next. They have this incredible resiliency that was compelling to understand."

The team found that these systems were precipitating calcium carbonate rapidly, estimating that the structures can grow almost two inches vertically every year.

More surprising was the finding of carbon uptake day and night. These systems have long been assumed to be driven solely by photosynthesis, so Sipler says they were surprised to find nighttime uptake rates as high as during the day.

After repeating their experiments several times, the researchers confirmed that the microbes are utilizing metabolic processes other than photosynthesis to absorb carbon in the absence of light, similar to how microbes living in deep-sea vents survive.

Based on daily rates of carbon uptake, the team estimates that these microbialites can absorb the equivalent of nine to 16 kilograms of carbon dioxide every year per square meter. That's like a tennis court-sized area absorbing as much CO₂ every year as three acres of forest, making these systems one of the most efficient biological mechanisms for long-term carbon storage observed in nature.

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"We're so trained to look for the expected. If we're not careful, we'll train ourselves to not see the unique characteristics that lead to true discovery," Sipler said. "But we kept going out and kept digging into the data to confirm that the finding wasn't an artifact of the data but an incredible discovery."

Coastal marshes are similar to microbialites in that they're a microbial mat ecosystem that's been found to take in carbon at a similar rate. Yet, marsh microbes put all of that energy into organic matter, which can be easily broken down compared to stable, mineral structures.

Given those differences, the team is continuing to investigate how environmental factors and variations in microbes present influence the fate of carbon in these different microbial systems, using the interdisciplinary expertise and international perspective of the research team.

"If we had just looked at the metabolisms, we would have had one part of the story. If we had just looked at carbon uptake rates, we would have had a different story. It was through a combination of different approaches and strong scientific curiosity that we were able to build this complete story," Sipler said.

"You never know what you're going to find when you put people from different backgrounds with different perspectives into a new, interesting environment."

More information: Rachel E. Sipler et al, Integration of multiple metabolic pathways supports high rates of carbon precipitation in living microbialites, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-66552-8

Provided by Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences