– Ocean Visions Director of International Partnerships Leonardo Valenzuela Pérez, Ph.D.
2024 has been a consequential year for international discussions on the linkages between action on climate change and ocean health. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the International Maritime Organization’s London Convention/London Protocol, and the UN Climate Change Framework agreement all convened major meetings that have a direct effect on the future of the emerging ocean-climate solutions agenda. These international dialogues presented both challenges and opportunities.
Ocean Visions Director of International Partnerships Leonardo Valenzuela Pérez, Ph.D. shares some key insights from these meetings and examines what it all means for the future.
CBD COP16: Moving Toward Enhanced Coordination and Coherence for Biodiversity and Climate Change Priorities
The Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties (CBD COP) is a meeting where countries come together to review progress, set priorities, and agree on decisions that affect the future of biodiversity. Why are we paying attention? Because biodiversity loss and climate change are deeply interconnected. Healthy ecosystems play a crucial role in storing carbon and biodiversity strengthens climate resilience and adaptation. Conversely, climate change is a primary driver of biodiversity decline.
Unfortunately, CBD COP16 was marked by the general absence of Heads of State, a limited number of agreements, and a lack of quorum by the end of the meeting that left some unresolved decisions that will need to be addressed in early 2025 in Rome, Italy. Despite these shortcomings, significant discussions occurred, including a landmark biodiversity and climate change decision that calls for the strengthening of multilateral coordination in these areas, especially among CBD and UNFCCC presidencies, and it also opened a process for Parties, observers, and stakeholders to submit their views on options for enhanced policy coherence, including a potential joint work program of the three Rio conventions (CBD, UNFCCC, and UNCCD).
Additionally notable were the growing conversations around the role of climate interventions research, which included a reinforcement of a 2016 decision supporting transdisciplinary research and knowledge-sharing on potential interventions to slow dangerous climate change and associated biodiversity loss.
The growing recognition of the interconnectedness of biodiversity loss and climate change seen at COP16 underscores the urgency of addressing both challenges together, offering an opportunity to integrate ocean-based solutions into global climate strategies.
LC/LP: Increased Coordination but More Work to Do
The London Convention (LC) on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (1972) and its subsequent London Protocol (LP) (1996) are international instruments established to regulate the dumping of waste at sea. In October, countries that are parties to the Convention and the Protocol met to discuss (among other things) the regulation of marine carbon dioxide removal, which they refer to as “marine geoengineering” and consider to be “dumping”.
This year’s meeting and the awkward placement of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) as “dumping” underscores the need for increasing international coordination and clarity around the governance of emerging mCDR approaches. One of the most pressing issues discussed was the role of the LC/LP in regulating mCDR research, given that CDR is a major pillar of the global climate action agenda and mCDR needs to be better understood as quickly as possible to know whether it can safely and effectively contribute to our global climate targets.
Fueling much discussion this year was a proposal to bring more mCDR techniques under the existing rules, which were created primarily in response to ocean iron fertilization experiments in the early 2010s. The challenge is that these rules have had the effect (intentional or not) of reducing research in the sector. Discussions at the LC/LP meeting highlighted the need for review of instruments like the 2010 Ocean Fertilization Assessment Framework, to make it more suitable to the challenges of mobilizing a large-scale multi sector scientific endeavor to test the safety and efficacy of ocean-based climate mitigation methods.
Discussion also included a review of the accreditation process that confers consultative status to NGOs. The secretariat of the LC/LP acknowledged that there is a potential bias against organizations that promote research on emerging climate mitigation technologies, which has led to their exclusion from this very important forum. Ocean Visions believes that the LC/LP process must become more inclusive and transparent, making space for crucial scientific perspectives that are currently not well represented among the civil society organizations participating in the process.
As a community, we must continue pushing for a coordinated governance approach for climate interventions across international agreements that also includes all stakeholders—governments, private sector, academia, and civil society—so that research around ocean-based climate solutions can be done safely and effectively.
COP29: The Emergence of a New Era for Carbon Markets and Climate Interventions
COP is an abbreviation for Conference of the Parties, a decision-making platform for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). At COP, delegations from participating countries meet annually to discuss and negotiate binding agreements and mechanisms to address climate change.
COP29 marked a turning point for climate finance and carbon markets. The operationalization of carbon markets, with standards for carbon removals, is a promising development for expanded climate action. This decision opens the possibility that methodologies prepared for the voluntary market that meet the agreed standards, in addition to those designed by the UNFCCC, could soon begin delivering credits that in turn could provide the financial backing necessary to advance research for emerging technologies.
However, COP29 also revealed significant gaps in climate financing. The final agreement on financial support to help developing nations deal with the impacts of the growing climate crisis fell was far below the levels needed, with developed countries committing just $300 billion—a small fraction of the 5 to 7 trillion dollars in needs estimated by UNFCCC. This underwhelming outcome signals that much more work is needed to ensure that the mobilization of resources for climate adaptation and mitigation, including research and development for climate interventions, matches the scale of the catastrophic situation we are facing.
On a brighter note, the increased openness around mCDR and Arctic sea ice interventions was particularly encouraging. The shift from skepticism to curiosity represents a real change in the discourse around climate interventions, together with the internationalization of the community working on these issues and the growing leadership among youth activists. While the transition is encouraging, Ocean Visions continued to clarify the applicability of international rules surrounding climate interventions and work to dispel common misconceptions. We remain clear in our position that creating enabling conditions for climate interventions research, to produce the evidence upon which decisions about either action or no action can be made, is a critical contribution to the public good. The recently published Ethical Framework for Climate Interventions Research by the American Geophysical Union is a valuable resource to guide these conversations.
We believe it’s crucial for the ocean-climate community to continue advocating for ethical and transparent climate interventions research while fostering a collaborative environment where diverse voices can contribute to the development of effective, safe, and ethical ocean-based climate solutions.
Looking Ahead
As we move forward from these meetings, there are several areas that require our collective focus:
- Advocating for policy cohesion and governance coordination across international agreements that govern ocean and climate policy
- Building stronger governance frameworks for the research and testing of emerging climate mitigation technologies
- Leveraging opportunities for the use of the emergent market mechanisms developed by the UNFCCC to accelerate mCDR’s research, development, and demonstration activities
- Expanding research funding and activities across geographies, and increasing cross-border collaborations
- Supporting Indigenous and youth activists to shape debates around the future of climate action and the role of climate interventions