Our ocean is under threat from a host of pressures, including overfishing, plastic pollution, and dead zones. But no threats loom larger than those caused by the greenhouse gas pollution causing global climate change. Greenhouse gas pollution is particularly hard on the ocean, driving overheating and acidification. Ocean heating is in turn causing deoxygenation, sea level rise, and disruption of critical marine ecosystem functions and services. At the same time, the ocean’s absorption of carbon dioxide is increasing its acidity. In order to address these challenges, the world needs to generate and scale innovative approaches and solutions much more effectively and quickly.
Ocean Visions connects oceanographic and academic research institutions, marine resource managers, conservation organizations, investors, entrepreneurs, and governments to collaborate on the development, testing, and deployment of scalable and equitable solutions in the ocean-climate nexus.
We seek a director for the Ocean Visions – UN Center for Ocean-Climate Solutions & Innovation, a designated Decade Collaborative Center under the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Development, and launched in partnership with Georgia Tech and Georgia Aquarium.
Our planet is being transformed by climate disruption, with some of the worst impacts occurring in the ocean. Currently, almost all of our efforts are focused on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. While those efforts remain vital, they’re no longer enough. We must also clean up the greenhouse gas pollution in our atmosphere. Ocean Visions believes that we may be able to harness the power of the ocean to restore the climate and the ocean itself.
There are many potentially promising ways to clean up carbon dioxide pollution – including those that enhance the ocean’s natural sequestration abilities. A number of ocean-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) approaches are being explored, each requiring additional research and testing. Read the core principles guiding our work on carbon dioxide removal and the ocean.
The Ocean Visions Launchpad was created to help innovators competing for the $100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal, funded by Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation. Launchpad targets teams who are pursuing ocean-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) pathways.
Additional Ventures is partnering with Ocean Visions and a consortium of philanthropic funders to announce the Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) Research Award.
Ocean Visions today released five “living” road maps designed to coalesce effort and energy around the continued development of ocean-based approaches to draw down and safely store carbon dioxide – the greenhouse gas most responsible for two existential threats facing the ocean: ocean warming and ocean acidification.
Research Consortium: Leading ocean research and academic institutions that help identify, develop, evaluate, and test solutions to ocean challenges
Acceleration and Impact Partners: Investors, philanthropists, NGOs, businesses, accelerators, and others that help move promising solutions into scalable real-world applications
