Saltmarshes do store carbon, but their climate impact may have been overestimated

Saltmarshes, or tidal marshes, are able to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and lock it away at a far higher rate than even forests on land. This has lead to them being championed as a nature-based solution to climate change. However, our research suggests the role played by saltmarshes of the UK and north-west Europe more widely in reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere has been significantly overestimated.