About
Blue Carbon Trust

Our vision

The Blue Carbon Trust’s goal is to support the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of blue carbon habitats - seagrass meadows, mangrove forests, and saltmarshes - for their critical role in carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and coastal resilience.

Why blue carbon matters

Blue carbon habitats provide us with many benefits:

A dead fish covered in white barnacles and shells lying on white sand.

Climate impact

These ecosystems sequester carbon significantly faster than forests per unit area.

A young sea turtle swimming underwater above a bed of seagrass.

Biodiversity

They provide a home to juvenile fish, crustaceans, and rare plant species. This benefits fishing communities.

Sandy beach with clear water and lush green trees leaning over the shoreline.

Coastal protection

They act as natural buffers against erosion, flooding, and storms.

A large stingray resting on the rocks at the bottom of a freshwater aquarium, with tangled tree branches and blue-green water in the background.

Impact

These vital habitats are under increasing pressure and degradation from development, pollution, and climate change, causing the loss of their storage capabilities and also releasing stored carbon into the atmosphere.

How we help

Group of people planting mangrove trees in water near shoreline, with bags of soil or seedlings, at a coastal area.

Partnerships

We work with organisations who are tackling these issues, supporting projects to help protect & reduce the pressures on blue carbon habitats, as well as actively restoring them.

A small green plant sprouting from a pile of various coins, including pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, on a white surface.

Funding

We can help projects by providing funding and offering practical support to tap into other potential funding opportunities. By providing “seed funding” grants or working with other funders collaboratively, we can help unlock further finance.

Close-up of a globe showing Europe and surrounding areas.

Locations

We are currently focused on projects in Scotland and the Caribbean.

Apply for funding

We provide a flexible, independent and collaborative grant-giving model which enables local solutions to generate a positive impact for the ocean, climate and communities.

If you're a registered charity, NGO, community group, or research organisation looking for funding for a blue carbon conservation project, we're here to help. We offer a maximum of £20,000 per grant application, and can also help find other sources of funding.