A start-up backed by tech giants IBM and Microsoft plans to build thousands of artificial reefs across the globe to fight climate change by restoring coral reef ecosystems.
The Reef Company plans to have its first reefs in the water by December 2022, and the firm is encouraging more corporations to fund reefs to help offset their carbon footprint.
“We have calculated we need to build 2500 reefs, each measuring 52 square kilometres, over the next 10 years to absorb the excess carbon we have on the planet at the moment,” says Jeroen van de Waal, a former oil and gas engineer and founder of .
Advertisement
Coral reefs are home to 25 per cent of all marine life. They provide a source of income for millions of people through fishing and tourism and protect coastal communities by reducing the power of waves before they reach the shore. Yet they are under threat from global warming and 90 per cent of all coral reefs could be lost by 2050 if nothing is done to protect them, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
As well as improving biodiversity and storing carbon, The Reef Company, which is based in Portugal and supported by an investor group from Costa Rica, hopes to give a boost to local economies and collect real-time data for researchers.
Its stackable artificial reefs are constructed from eco-friendly concrete made from recycled industrial waste, such as slag, and will feature consoles filled with sensors that can measure the salinity, temperature and acidity of the ocean.
The reefs will provide “a continuously expanding set of connected sensors to gather and analyse data, generating insights in real time”, says Andrés Ortolá, managing director of Microsoft Portugal.
The Reef Company already has government approval for three engineered reefs at Comporta and Cascais in Portugal and on the shore of an island in Malaysia.
The reef in Comporta, consisting of modules weighing 55 metric tonnes each that will be lowered by a crane ship into the ocean, will measure 52 square kilometres and is expected to cost up to $200 million.
The smaller reef in Cascais will be used as a research laboratory and dive site for tourists. The reef in Malaysia is smaller still, consisting of modules light enough to float out to the site.
To act as a sink for carbon dioxide, the artificial reefs will need to support plants such as seagrass and mangroves alongside coral, says at Nova Southeastern University in Florida.
While coral use carbon to grow, the process also lowers the pH in the water, which results in the release of CO₂. “Thus, an artificial reef mainly dominated by coral acts as a minor source and not as a sink of CO₂,” says Renegar.
at the Earth Observatory of Singapore says artificial reefs will need to be well maintained to prove successful. “If the ecosystems are damaged, their carbon sink capacity is affected, and the carbon stored is released.”
Jonathan Wright, global managing partner for IBM’s sustainability services, is confident of the project’s success. “The engineered reefs can become a 10-times multiplier of sequestration and drive biodiversity below the ocean,” he says.
“This isn’t a moon shot, it’s a Jupiter shot,” says van de Waal. “We really want to create a positive future for our children.”
Article amended on 17 March 2023
We corrected the size and cost of the planned reefs and the location of the reef in Malaysia.
