Coastal wetlands have been lost due to reclamation, conversion to aquaculture, agriculture and settlements, and over-exploitation. While global rates of loss have declined over the past two decades, maintaining and expanding wetland cover requires conservation and restoration. The ambitious global targets for restoration, if successful, could deliver global benefits of carbon sequestration, enhancements in water quality, fisheries production, biodiversity and coastal protection. However, large-scale restoration efforts have often failed and smaller projects do not deliver landscape-scale benefits. Valuing blue carbon sequestration may incentivise restoration projects, leading to increased scale and effectiveness of restoration. In Australia, the Tidal Restoration of Blue Carbon Ecosystems Methodology Determination 2022 of the Emissions Reduction Fund is a standard where projects can receive Australian carbon credits for successful coastal wetland restoration through reintroducing tidal flows. Identifying the scale of opportunities for blue carbon projects, the costs and the risks to restoration projects, including those from climate change, and the levels of co-benefits delivered with restoration are priorities for research to support uptake of coastal wetland restoration. While blue carbon offers a tantalizing pathway to recover the extent of coastal wetlands and the ecosystem services they provide, challenges to achieving the widespread uptake of restoration for blue carbon are evident.