What is Blue Carbon Ecosystem?

Blue Carbon is carbon that is stored by marine and coastal ecosystems such as mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and seaweed. Blue Carbon Ecosystem can store up to 10 times more carbon than terrestrial forests! So they play a critical role in addressing the climate crisis. ​ Unfortunately, this ecosystem is estimated to have the highest rate of destruction among any other ecosystem on earth. Globally, we have lost up to half the world’s mangroves since the 1940s and seagrass since just 1990 mainly due to human activities. ( Conservation International, 2019)

What is the Blue Carbon Package?

The Blue Carbon Package allows you to offset 60 kg of your carbon emission! This package will be planted for you by our local farmer partners and includes 3 Mangrove Trees. By buying this package you also contribute to:

• Funding research in sustainable seagrass bed development in Dompak Island, Bintan
• Cultiving of seaweed
• Training our local farmer partners
• A safety gear kit for farmers during planting

Where are the Coral and Blue Carbon Packages planted?

Our Marine mangrove and seaweed are planted in Harapan Island, Kepulauan Seribu and Jakarta Seagrass and Coral are planted in Pramuka Island, Kepulauan Seribu, Jakarta Estuarine mangrove are planted in Rembang Regency, Central Java Feel free to check the location on Google Earth

Why is CarbonEthics planting Blue Carbon in Jakarta, Indonesia?

Indonesian people sense that seasons become unpredictable, but most people don’t realize that this environmental issue also causes huge socio economic issues. Livelihood of most Indonesians depends on agriculture, mariculture and fishing, all of which could be severely impacted by temperature, rainfall and other climatic changes: Sea level rises push coastal communities to move out from their houses. Coral bleaching leads fishermen to sail longer to catch the same amount of fish. As a result, Jakarta is sinking 15 cm a year because of subsidence and sea level rise, and by 2050 half of Jakarta is projected to be below annual flood level. Additionally, Jakarta is the 2nd most polluted city in the world ( IQ Air, 2020), cutting average lifespan by two years. Thus, at CarbonEthics we believe in the conservation of Blue Carbon in Jakarta will holistically help reduce carbon emission and bring other coastal benefits to support the detrimental climate crisis. ( Learn more about Blue Carbon)

Does CarbonEthics genetically modified seeds in planting?

No. Our farmers cultivate the seedlings from the existing seeds of the mangrove trees around Kepulauan Seribu who grow naturally

How and where are the Blue Carbon Package and Coral sourced?

For mangrove, seagrass and seaweed, our farmers cultivate the seedlings from the existing plant around their natural habitat and replant in the conservation area given by National Park in their nursery. For coral, our farmers got the baby coral from ornamental fish and coral fishermen association in Kepulauan Seribu as part of Indonesian Corals of Scallops and Ornamental Fish with permit from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. Our partner also cultivates the coral from the 4th and 5th generation, so they don’t harvest the polyp directly from the ocean.

What is Carbon Offsetting and why should we do it?

Carbon Offsetting is about reducing carbon emissions in the atmosphere in equal proportion to our production. When we offset, we fund projects that avoid, reduce or remove carbon emissions from the atmosphere. For example, if you take a round flight trip from Jakarta to Bali, you will emit around 350 kg of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide (CO2) at excessive rates along with other greenhouse gases from human activities can contribute to the warming of the earth and not allowing heat to escape. As more heat gets trapped in, the Earth temperature rises, therefore resulting in climate change. The 350kg of carbon dioxide you emitted from flying from Jakarta to Bali, we can help to reverse and offset the carbon by planting 7 mangrove trees and compensate the emissions from that trip. To learn more about Climate Change, please click here

How else can I offset my Carbon?

You can read this great external article that answers the question “ How to reduce your carbon footprint”

Who operates CarbonEthics?

CarbonEthics is managed and led by a mix team of full time, part time and volunteers who are united in the passion to help create climate solutions.

How is CarbonEthics funded?

As an NGO, CarbonEthics receive donations, grants and funds from several sources From the sales of our Blue Carbon Package and in return they receive a certificate to the location of the trees planting by their donation and an estimate of the amount of CO2 they donated BCP have captured from the atmosphere. Individuals/institutions make donations to fund the planting of trees to reabsorb the CO2 their activities have released into the environment. Sponsors donate specific amounts to fund the establishment of a community forest in a particular village or area. They may also fund a social activity program or provide seedling nursery for CarbonEthics planting activities. Sponsors may also elect to fund specific projects to help develop the program or benefit specific communities or the environment.

Where does the revenue go?

Most of the revenue goes to the farmer partners to plant the blue carbon and the remaining is to cover CarbonEthics operational cost.

When will my purchase support the planting? And how can I monitor it?

We will compile all the purchase data every month and do monthly planting at the beginning of the month. The planting activity will be updated in our IG and you can monitor the BCP and coral trough our website

How does CarbonEthics maintain the plantings?

a) We do quarterly forest audit with our farmer partners b) Service and maintenance checks of up to 3 years with patchwork method to ensure that our success rate is high

Why offset your carbon with CarbonEthics?

a) Scientific based carbon offset - paper reference, benchmarking based on mangrove ecosystem & constantly reviewing our calculation. b) Plastic-free planting. c) Service and maintenance of the mangrove trees up to 3 years; so during these 3 years, we will plant new mangrove if your mangrove dies. d) Physical quarterly forest audit – we consciously chose site that are close by and we can visit without consuming a lot of carbon footprint. e) Fair margin for our farmers partners, ensuring their economic sustainability. f) High carbon sequestration rate. g) Contributing to the prevention of coastal erosion. h) Not monoculture tree plantation, good for coastal biodiversity to support healthy coastal and marine ecosystem.

Why is CarbonEthics planting Blue Carbon in Jakarta, Indonesia?

Indonesian people sense that seasons become unpredictable, but most people don’t realize that this environmental issue also causes huge socio economic issues. Livelihood of most Indonesians depends on agriculture, mariculture and fishing, all of which could be severely impacted by temperature, rainfall and other climatic changes: Drought affects the livelihood of millions of farmers in Indonesia due to crop loss. Floods and sea level rise push coastal communities to move out from their houses. Coral bleaching leads fishermen to sail longer to catch the same amount of fish. As a result, Jakarta is sinking 15 cm a year because of subsidence and sea level rise, and by 2050 half of Jakarta is projected to be below annual flood level Jakarta is the 2nd most polluted city in the world (Air Visual, 2019), cutting average lifespan by two years

Who owns the Coral and Blue Carbon Packages by CarbonEthics?

We are working together with the farmers in Kepulauan Seribu as our partner. The farmers are local residents of the island, and the government made an agreement with them to manage and restore a conservation area. So when you donate BCP and coral through our sites, we give it to the farmers to plant for us and monitor our blue carbon and coral for 3 years to keep it safe. The land is owned by Kepulauan Seribu National park but the seedlings are nursed by our farmers. For the coral, SmilingCoral (our partner) have agreement with government to plant coral in their area

What kind of certification does CarbonEthics offer?

CarbonEthics is on our way to get our carbon sequestration program certified. And although we’re still on our way, we believe that we need to start early in educating and capturing carbon from the atmosphere. Currently, the certificate that we offer is backed by numerous studies by various institutions. Individual trees vary in the amount of CO2 they will absorb during their lifetime but we use the best available science to calculate average amounts of CO2 absorbed across all our plantings and apply this average as an estimate of the carbon that you will capture from the environment by your donation. We use very conservative numbers in our estimates and therefore believe our estimates are a fair representation that your donation will have the estimated carbon capture or better.

How are local communities helped by CarbonEthics Program?

CarbonEthics conservation is community-based, meaning local communities get direct income from CarbonEthics to plant and monitor the blue carbon plants. Besides, CarbonEthics also give climate education to local communities so they can understand the importance of what they are doing and protecting their living areas.

How can I get involved?

There are many ways you as an individual, institution or businesses can help reduce, and/or offset their carbon. For more ways to reduce what you can please click here. To support CarbonEthics on this journey you can start by: a) Filling in the CarbonEthics Carbon footprint calculator here b) The website will convert the CO2e number, Rp amount and number of Blue Carbon items c) You can go to our product list here and purchase the Blue Carbon Package or Coral Reef Package to help offset your carbon calculated d) Leave the rest to CarbonEthics, we will work with our farmer partners to plant your Blue Carbon. We will ensure planting will be done plastic free!

What options are available to become a sponsor?

You can always help by adopting from our blue carbon package and baby coral package and you can always help by doing fundraising or work together with CE as our partner to offset your business’ carbon emission.

How do I know my donation is secure?

We are adapting the patchwork method; when one fragment or seedlings die, we will replace it with a new and healthy one. For coral we will have monthly monitoring of each fragment and rockfell, and you will be able to see your coral’s growth every month on our website. For seaweed, seagrass, and mangrove, we will have monitoring every 6 month and you will be able to check it on our website.

Is there a minimum donation?

For donations of minimum IDR 50,000 - you can purchase the Blue Carbon from our website. For donation less than IDR 50,000 - you can go straight to our KitaBisa campaign.