STATEMENT: Global Leaders Issue Letter Calling on COP31 to Place Ocean at Heart of Climate Action

LONDON (June 10, 2026) - A group of 150+ global experts and leaders shared the below open letter with incoming COP31 hosts Türkiye and Australia, COP30 President and COP CEO Brazil, and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, urging that the ocean be placed at the center of global climate action at UNFCCC COP31, to be held in Türkiye this November. The letter's signatories include World Resources Institute, Dr. Marinez Scherer (COP30 Special Envoy for the Ocean), and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, as well as Sylvia Earle (National Geographic Society; Mission Blue), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, and the governments of Kenya, Seychelles and Brazil.

Letter Text:
With climate action more urgently needed than ever, we welcome the dedicated roles you will all play in achieving global climate ambition in the year ahead. With Türkiye now confirmed as the Host and President for UNFCCC COP31, Australia designated as President of Negotiations, and a Pacific Island country to host the pre-COP, we must ensure that this conference delivers on its potential to be a Blue COP, with the ocean firmly at the heart of climate action. Brazil's Presidency and support at UNFCCC COP30, with the inclusion of the ocean in the World Leaders Summit, ocean and coasts as a thematic pillar of the Action Agenda, and the first High-Level Ocean Ministerial, has laid the groundwork. Now is the time for a Blue COP that super charges implementation of ocean-climate solutions that represent one of the last and best chances to raise and meet desperately needed climate ambition for mitigation and resilience.

The ocean remains our greatest ally in the fight against climate change: absorbing over 90% of excess heat, capturing a quarter of global CO₂ emissions, and sustaining billions of people through food, livelihoods, and resilience. Scaling transformative ocean-climate solutions such as decarbonisation of global shipping and maritime transport, offshore renewable energy, sustainable blue foods, protecting and restoring blue carbon ecosystems and the ocean itself, could provide up to 35% of the emissions reductions needed to meet the Paris Agreement and keep warming below 1.5°C. Yet ocean-based climate solutions remain vastly underrepresented in global climate policy and finance.

COP31 must change this. We believe the time has come for ocean-climate action to have a permanent place in global climate governance. Strongly mainstreaming the ocean across all relevant agenda items would ensure that ocean issues are never sidelined again and delegations are equipped to implement ocean-climate solutions at the highest level. This aligns with priorities being advanced through the mandated Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue at SBSTA, and reflects growing scientific consensus on the urgency of ocean action.

Türkiye, as COP31 Host and President, can continue to embed ocean priorities into the Action Agenda and elevate them politically by appointing Ocean Champions to build consensus and elevate ocean sectors across the Action Agenda. Australia, as President of Negotiations, can ensure ocean-climate action is reflected throughout the negotiation texts. And the Pacific Pre-COP is the moment to anchor these priorities at COP31 outcomes early, elevating the urgency of ocean-climate action for island states. Leveraging the Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue to act as a central pillar to deepen these discussions will enable a successful Blue COP 31.

To make COP31 the turning point the world needs, we urge you 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.

COP31 is the opportunity to finally place the ocean at the center of global climate action. Let's ensure it delivers.

View the full letter and all 150+ signatories here:

• Darla Bijou van Hoorn

  Media Relations Manager

• John Lyons

  Senior Communications Manager, Ocean Program