Climate protection areas in the North Sea and Baltic Sea - Legal assessment study to analyse the legal options for designating climate protection areas in the German North Sea and Baltic Sea

Marine sediments (especially silty soils) store about twice as much carbon as terrestrial soils in their first metre of depth. If the sediments are left undisturbed, carbon can be stored for thousands to millions of years. If the sediments are disturbed by appropriate use, greenhouse gases that have been bound in the sediment for a long time can be released. Therefore, these particularly carbon-rich areas should be preserved as a contribution to natural climate protection and the preservation of biodiversity. To this end, marine areas with particularly carbon-rich sediments could in the future be designated as ‘climate protection areas’ and thus protected from harmful uses.

In order to assess the practical feasibility of such an idea, UfU, together with Prof. Dr. Alexander Proelß, prepared a legal assessment study to develop a suitable legal framework for the designation of climate protection areas for marine areas in the German North Sea and Baltic Sea with particularly carbon-rich sediments.