Ocean-based climate action can play a much bigger role in shrinking the world’s carbon footprint than was previously thought. It could deliver up to 21 percent, or 11 GtCO₂e, of the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions cuts needed in 2050 to limit global temperature rise to 1.5° C. Reductions of this magnitude are larger than annual emissions from all current coal-fired power plants worldwide, according to new scientific report: The Ocean as a Solution for Climate Change: 5 Opportunities for Action, released in September at the U.N. Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in New York. 

The report, produced by the Expert Group of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy–a group of 14 heads of state and government–provides the first-ever comprehensive, quantitative analysis into the role that ocean-based solutions can play in the fight against climate change. 

These solutions include:

·  Scaling-up ocean-based renewable energy, which could save up to 5.4 gigatonnes of CO₂e annually by 2050, equivalent to removing more than 1 billion cars off the road each year.

· Decarbonizing domestic and international shipping and transport, which could cut up to 1.8 gigatonnes of CO₂e annually by 2050.

· Increasing the protection and restoration of “blue carbon” ecosystems– mangroves, seagrasses and salt marshes–could prevent approximately 1 gigatonne of CO₂e from entering the atmosphere by 2050.

· Utilizing low-carbon sources of protein from the ocean, such as seafood and seaweeds, to help feed future populations in a healthy and sustainable way while easing emissions from land-based food production could support emission reductions of up to 1.24 GtCO₂e each year by 2050.

In response to the report, the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy issued an urgent Call to Ocean-Based Climate Action to inspire political commitments, business partnerships and investments. Members of the panel have already made new ocean-climate commitments in advance of the UN Ocean Conference next year. Learn more here.