The economic value of grassland species for carbon storage
In a groundbreaking study, Ecoss research produced a monetary value for biodiversity by demonstrating that having more diverse plant species enables a grassland to draw down and store more carbon. This finding allows calculations of how much carbon storage is lost or gained per species added or lost from a landscape, values which can be connected to the real-world “social cost of carbon” (societal expenses needed to combat the effects of changing climate in agriculture, weather-related damage, etc.). Losing biodiversity from grasslands simply wastes the value of that ecosystem service, as less carbon will be captured per hectare, thereby increasing social costs.
