PML joins global call to place ocean at heart of COP31 climate action 

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Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) is among the signatories of an open letter calling on the incoming COP31 hosts Türkiye and Australia, COP30 President and COP CEO Brazil, and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat to make the ocean a central pillar of international climate policy.

The letter, coordinated by the World Resources Institute, has been signed by more than 150 global experts, institutions, and governments, including the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Sylvia Earle of the National Geographic Society / Mission Blue, and the governments of Kenya, Seychelles, and Brazil.

The letter highlights the critical role the Ocean plays in regulating the Earth’s climate – absorbing more than 90% of excess heat and capturing around a quarter of global CO₂ emissions – while stressing that ocean-based solutions remain vastly underrepresented in global climate policy and finance.

Building on progress made at COP30 in Brazil – in which the ocean featured as a thematic pillar of the Action Agenda and a High-Level Ocean Ministerial was held for the first time – the letter calls for COP31 (which is due to take place between 9 – 20 November) to go further and establish a permanent place for ocean-climate action within global climate governance.

The letter calls on COP31 to:

• Make ocean-climate solutions a core theme of the COP31 World Leaders Summit with a clear political declaration and finance outcomes.
• Ensure that ocean and coasts remain a strongly supported pillar of the Action Agenda.
• Host a High Level Ocean Ministerial to highlight progress and announce new commitments to the Blue NDC Challenge Implementation Taskforce and Action Agenda Blue Package, both launched at COP30.
• Integrate ocean priorities into negotiation texts on mitigation, adaptation, and finance.
• Dedicate a COP31 session to outcomes of the Standing Committee on Finance Forum on Financing Climate Action in Water Systems and the Ocean.
• Select Ocean Focal Points for the Mitigation Work Program, Adaptation Committee, and Standing Committee on Finance, to raise ocean-climate ambition, ensuring representatives from Small Island Developing States.

The letter states:

PML has long championed the integration of ocean science into climate policy. Professor Matt Frost, PML’s Head of the International Office said:

“We’re proud to be supporting calls for a ‘Blue COP’, recognising the critical role our Ocean plays in regulating Earth’s climate, and also the ramifications of climate change for the marine environment, its ecosystems and biodiversity and the consequences for society and the global economy. The ocean and the climate really do go hand-in-hand and it’s vital this is properly reflected within COP31.”

Signatories argue that transformative ocean-climate solutions, from the decarbonisation of shipping and offshore renewable energy to the protection of blue carbon ecosystems, could contribute up to 35% of the emissions reductions needed to keep warming below 1.5°C.

Professor Helen Findlay, Biological Oceanographer and PML’s lead for ‘Ocean-based Climate Solutions’ adds:

“Climate change is transforming the ocean at an unprecedented pace, reshaping marine ecosystems, shifting species distributions, and threatening the communities and industries that depend on it. At the same time, the Ocean offers huge potential for climate change adaptation and mitigation measures. It’s imperative that climate policy and governance are underpinned by high quality ocean-based climate science – the health of our planet ultimately depends on it.”