River restoration can increase carbon storage but is not yet a suitable basis for carbon credits.

Abstract

Increasing organic carbon storage in river corridors (channels and floodplains) is a potential cobenefit of some river restoration approaches, raising the possibility of using restoration to produce carbon credits and, therefore, increase restoration funding. However, the uncertainty already associated with existing carbon credits is compounded in river corridors, which are dynamic on daily, seasonal, annual, and longer timescales. We currently do not know how much river restoration approaches could increase carbon storage or how significant increased organic carbon storage from restoration would be compared with other forms of climate mitigation. We also do not know whether river corridor carbon credits could meet market needs for quickly established, stable, and simple credits. Therefore, we argue that biophysical and political economic uncertainties make river corridor restoration carbon credits currently unfeasible but that research on river restoration projects would demonstrate whether restoration carbon credits could be feasible in the future.