The OSPAR Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic has published two reports on the rapid increase in seawater acidification due to the amounts of CO2 accumulated in the atmosphere and the technical aspects of carbon dioxide capture and storage in underwater geological structures.

The “Ocean Acidification” report confirms that high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are changing the carbon chemical composition of the ocean at least a hundred times faster than in the last 100,000 years. Likewise, marine species that depend on calcium structures for their growth, such as corals, crustaceans and molluscs, can be seriously affected. According to the study, high levels of CO2 in seawater generally alter the behavior of sea creatures.

A second report warns of the capture and storage of CO2 in underwater geological structures and highlights the need to investigate and take into account the risks that this entails for the marine environment.

The OSPAR Commission complies with the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, adopted in Paris in 1992 and ratified by Spain in 1994. The governments of the 15 European countries that have signed the Convention, as well as the European Commission, are represented in it.