"We want to make sure that the concept of restoring kelp beds on a large scale can be a self-perpetuating process," says Paul Renaud, a marine biologist and ecosystem expert serving as research and development manager for climate and ecosystems at Akvaplan-niva. "And that costs money".

As the lead on work package five, Akvaplan-niva is tasked with creating a viable financial and ecological model that supports the long-term financing, monitoring and sustainability of sea-urchin removal and kelp restoration projects.

A wide value chain

"We want to point to the value of the project: the tangible market value of the sea urchins and the kelp but also the jobs that the small and medium-sized companies who maybe take advantage of this bring as well – from tourism to pharmaceuticals or chemicals that they can extract from these bioactive chemicals," he explains.

There is potential in both sea urchins and kelp within food production. Urchins contain enzymes that carry value. There is the biodiversity and ecosystem services delivered through restoration. There is "the recreational and cultural value of having the kelp beds that have been here for hundreds and hundreds of years, but which in the past 50 years or so have disappeared because of the spread of sea urchins – which in turn is likely linked to overfishing of sea-urchin predators, as well as perhaps the warming of the ocean," adds Renaud.

All these elements and more must be factored into any value assessment. "To actually try to get a composite value of kelp-bed restoration from all its different aspects," is the first step, quickly followed by finding those looking to pay for restoration to continue.

This is particularly appealing "as a mitigation tool for habitat destruction that might occur somewhere else," explains Renaud. "This is done all over the world. When someone wants to build a marina in some place and has to dredge that seagrass bed, they have to plant seagrass or mangroves somewhere else. If Ocean Green can be part of that mitigation process, the money coming in from those carbon credits would pay for future rounds of kelp restoration."

A multi-billion market

Research from Nasdaq, published in 2023, found that 78% of companies have already implemented some type of carbon-credit purchase programme, with Nasdaq advising companies that their net-zero ambitions would be impossible without carbon-dioxide removal credits. It puts a $2 bn value on the voluntary carbon market, noting that the compliance carbon market value is close to $270 bn.

For Renaud and Akvaplan-niva, one current challenge is simply pulling together all the elements in the urchin-kelp value chain, work that includes an array of ecosystems, businesses and social elements, with input from another Ocean Green partner, NIBIO. "We're working together to split up different elements of the value chain," explains Renaud, pointing to the need to get out and talk to individuals, to companies about where they see value from the project as well. "We’re trying to say, for example, if we restore 20% of the possible kelp-bed area, it could lead to many new jobs in North Norway. But we need to talk to industry as well. We need to ask, If we restore this much kelp bed, what would do for your company?"

The impact of scale

All these elements – a boost to business, diversification opportunities for these coastal economies, an attractive and realistic prospect for blue carbon – depend completely on the one thing Renaud says sets Ocean Green apart from others that have targeted the urchin-kelp problem before now: scale.

"This is the potentially large-scale restoration of kelp beds. If the harvesting works as well as we hope it does, it can also be applied to different kinds of habitats," Renaud says, adding that Akvaplan-niva is also linking the Ocean Green possibilities with some of its other work around reestablishing natural predators in the ecosystem, "so we don’t have to keep going back with boats and harvesters".

The goal is not just self-perpetuating finance, but self-perpetuating restoration.