Amazon is investing in the world’s first commercial-scale seaweed farm, which will be situated between offshore wind turbines.
The concept is able to expand seaweed production in the otherwise extensively utilised North Sea by putting the farm in previously free space between turbines. If seaweed farming were to take over the whole space covered by wind farms, which is anticipated to be around 1 million hectares by 2040, it might save millions of tonnes of CO2 per year.
The project is led by the non-profit organization North Sea Farmers (NSF) and maintained by a coalition of scientific researchers and seaweed business partners. It is planned to be operational by the end of this year. The collaboration expects that North Sea Farm 1 will serve as a model for offshore seaweed growing around the world.
Amazon is donating €1.5 million to build the world’s first seaweed farm and conduct a year of scientific research into carbon reduction through seaweed farming. The financing comes from Amazon’s global Right Now Climate Fund, which is a $100 million pledge to promote nature-based solutions in addition to the work the company is doing to decarbonize its business. Amazon has contributed €20 million to initiatives across Europe to preserve biodiversity and conserve, restore, and improve nature in communities where Amazon operates through this fund.
World’s first
North Sea Farm 1 aims to jumpstart offshore seaweed growing innovation. The funding will cover the cost of constructing a 10-hectare seaweed farm, which is expected to provide at least 6,000kg of fresh seaweed in its first year.
This investment will also help North Sea Farmers analyze and improve their farming capacities. Simultaneously, researchers will investigate the potential of seaweed farms to remove carbon from the atmosphere by simulating the effects of large-scale seaweed farming. The non-profit thinks that these findings will contribute to the industry’s growth. North Sea Farm 1 and others like it will also provide opportunities for job creation through seaweed growing and production.
Agriculture in the North Sea
Since 2014, North Sea Farmers (NSF) has championed the seaweed sector throughout Europe. The non-profit will spearhead the project, collaborating with a partnership of European organizations involved in the full seaweed production supply chain. Researchers Plymouth Maritime Laboratory, Deltares, and Silvestrum Climate Associates are among those involved, as are seaweed extract makers Algaia and marine contractors Van Oord.
Amazon has already invested in a nature and wildlife restoration fund in France, a reforestation program in Italy, an urban greening program in Germany, and a rewilding and tree planting project in the United Kingdom as part of the Right Now Climate Fund’s commitment to funding nature-based projects in European communities. Furthermore, Amazon has funded forest conservation and restoration in the United States’ Appalachian Mountains, the Agroforestry and Restoration Accelerator program in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, and Amazon is a key member of the LEAF Coalition, a new global public-private initiative to raise at least $1 billion to protect the world’s tropical rainforests.
Image source: Smartland
