Our 
Thought 
Leadership

Seagrass offers the largest scope for restoration among blue carbon habitats, due to their greater potential extent along with efficient space occupation through their clonal growth. Here we model the upper limit to the value of carbon removal if seagrass were to be restored to approach their maximum global extent, estimated at about one million km2 to yield up to 17.8 CO2-eq. This corresponds to a total value of the associated carbon credits of USD 1.13–2.27 trillion, depending on the length of exponential clonal growth.

Blue natural capital (BNC) markets have the potential to address global environmental crises such as biodiversity and climate emergencies by contributing to the conservation and restoration of marine ecosystems while providing economic benefits to the owners of these ecosystems and the buyers of their services. Philanthropic and official aid fall short of the funding needed to protect and restore BNC. The resulting finance gap for nature, now approaching USD $1 trillion annually, cannot be closed without mobilizing private capital at scale.

Land has a vital role in sustaining human communities, nurturing diverse ecosystems and regulating the climate of our planet. As such, current rates of land degradation pose a major environmental and socioeconomic threat, driving climate change, biodiversity loss and social crises.

The biological carbon pump (BCP) sequesters vast amounts of carbon in the ocean, but its importance for conservation, climate finance and international policy has not been properly assessed. Here, using spatial analysis and financial valuation of the BCP service, we estimate that, annually, the BCP adds 2.81 GtC (range 2.44–3.53 GtC) to the ocean with a storage time of at least 50 years (±25 years).

Recently, the Māori People of Aotearoa, Cook Islands, and Tahiti supported a resolution to endorse their ancestors, the whales, as Ocean Ambassadors to the United Nations and to protect their legal personhood. This historic move aims to help protect the whales against dangers such as ship strikes as they migrate through their South Pacific waters.

Climate change experts confirm that humanity still has a (narrow) chance to prevent global mean temperatures from rising more than 1.5°C by 2035. But it falls on non-experts to turn the experts’ projections and advice into policy—and perhaps more importantly, into public awareness that results in needed behavioral changes and support for new policy initiatives.

Currently, ships and whales share the ocean. Their interaction, however, has been devastating for the whales, as ship strikes have continued to be a primary cause of whale fatalities, along with entanglements among others. Because whales have existed for millions of years relative to the recent advent of ships, whales have not evolved fast enough to recognize the danger from these vessels.

At COP28, the Nature Positive Pavilion promoted Nature Talks, a platform where influential speakers and experienced leaders converged to deliver impactful TED-style talks on leading nature for climate action. Diverse experts shared transformative ideas, innovative solutions, and personal insights that inspire change and ignite conversations surrounding the crucial role of nature in addressing climate challenges for people and the planet. In this talk, we invite you to listen to Ralph Chami, a financial economist with 25 years at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and co-founder of Blue Green Future and Rebalance Earth.

“Oceania is vast, Oceania is expanding, Oceania is hospitable and generous, Oceania is humanity rising from the depths of brine and regions of fire deeper still, Oceania is us. We are the sea, we are the ocean, we must wake up to this ancient truth…”

"The value of a living whale is zero, $0, zero in any currency. I'm a financial economist. And I'm listening to these scientists bemoaning what's happening to the whales, and I wanted to help. I didn't know how to help. And I thought, wait a minute. Maybe I can bring your message to the audiences around the world. Maybe I can translate all of that value, those services that they do for us, in a language that we can all understand. It's the language of dollars and cents."