COP31 Must Deliver for Our Ocean

Our ocean is bearing the brunt of the climate crisis, but it is also where communities are adapting, and major opportunities for a clean energy transition are emerging. As world leaders prepare to gather in Antalya, Turkey for COP31, it is clearer than ever that our ocean belongs in the climate conversation.

A joint letter from the Friends of the Ocean and Climate, backed by 105 countries and delivered to the COP31 Presidencies, makes clear exactly what’s necessary to position our ocean as true climate solution.

Blue NDCs: Turning plans into progress

A major ocean-climate spotlight at COP31 will be on the “blue NDCs”—or countries are including ocean priorities in their national climate plans (Nationally Determined Contributions—NDCs). These countries are starting to participate in the Blue NDC Challenge—a global coalition of countries working together to turn their ocean-related climate commitments into real action and projects.

To do it, countries need stronger pipelines of investment-ready projects, easier access to public and concessional finance and smarter use of blended finance to unlock private investment where appropriate.

All too often, ocean-climate finance is fragmented across issues like biodiversity, energy, infrastructure and development, but coastal communities do not experience those issues in separate boxes.The ocean does not operate in silos, and our finance system should not either. At COP31, Ocean Conservancy is helping move the conversation from ambition to implementation. Through the Blue NDC Challenge Implementation Taskforce, we are working to connect countries with the technical expertise, partnerships and financing needed to deliver on their ocean-climate priorities.

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Clean energy transition is moving offshore

Another ocean-climate spotlight is on the clean energy transition. Offshore wind and other marine renewable technologies can support clean electricity, energy security, jobs and economic development.

But scaling offshore renewables responsibly means getting the fundamentals right: marine spatial planning, grid infrastructure, permitting, biodiversity safeguards and affordable finance. The goal is not simply more offshore energy. It is better offshore energy. That means energy development that supports climate goals while protecting ocean health and coastal communities.

At the same time, a credible offshore energy transition cannot only be about building what comes next. It also has to address what we are moving away from. For countries that produce offshore oil and gas, the transition raises difficult questions around future development, decommissioning, workers, communities, economic diversification and energy security. Those conversations will look different in every country, but they can no longer be avoided.

That is why Ocean Conservancy is launching the Offshore Transition Initiative at COP31. As part of the UNFCCC Global Climate Action Agenda, the initiative will bring governments, experts and other partners together to share knowledge, tackle practical challenges and explore how countries can plan a fair, orderly and responsible transition away from offshore fossil fuels. A real offshore transition means building the clean energy future while planning responsibly for the fossil fuel system we are leaving behind.

What does success at COP31 look like for our ocean?

Success in Antalya should not be measured by how many times the ocean is mentioned in speeches, but rather it should be measured by what tangibly moves forward.

Do Blue NDC priorities get closer to implementation? Does finance become easier to access? Can responsible offshore renewables expand, including in emerging markets? And does the transition away from offshore fossil fuels become part of the broader climate implementation agenda?

The ocean-climate connection has never been stronger or more widely understood. COP31 has a real opportunity to turn countries’ blue commitments into global action.

Take Action

You can help Ocean Conservancy fight for ocean-climate action at COP31 and beyond.

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The post COP31 Must Deliver for Our Ocean appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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Climate change, El Niño and a Warming Ocean

What is El Niño and why is this year’s different?

A strengthening El Niño layered on top of decades of human-caused climate change is pushing ocean temperatures to record highs and threatening marine wildlife. El Niño is the warming phase of a natural climate pattern called the El Niño–Southern Oscillation or ENSO. The other, “cooling,” phase is La Niña.

El Niño forms when the easterly trade winds weaken and surface waters along the equatorial Pacific warm more than usual. El Niño usually brings a significantly rainier winter to California and the southern United States. It also suppresses Atlantic hurricane activity while boosting tropical storm formation in the eastern and central Pacific.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), El Niño has been underway since June 2026. NOAA forecasters warn that the current El Niño is likely to become a “super El Niño,” an exceptionally strong event in which sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific rise at least 2°C (3.6°F) above normal.

El Niño and human-driven ocean warming

Scientists believe the natural warming from the current El Niño is combining with decades of human-caused climate change to push ocean warming to record highs, and this one-two punch is already showing up in the data. In August 2026, the global average ocean temperature climbed to a record 21.10°C (69.98°F), according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). That marks the highest reading since the agency began tracking in 1979.

Our ocean absorbs 90% of the excess heat from carbon pollution and other greenhouse gases. This heat is pushing our ocean to its limits and warming it at an alarming rate. Unprecedented, human-driven ocean warming combined with a potentially historic El Niño could make 2027 a disastrous year for our climate and ocean health.

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What can we expect moving forward?

Rising ocean temperatures have a host of negative impacts, including coral bleaching, harmful algae blooms, food chain collapse and ecosystem disruption. The 2015–2016 Super El Niño set off a catastrophic domino effect where toxic algae bloomed in Pacific waters, large populations of krill, a keystone species that underpins the diets of countless marine animals died off, and the West Coast saw withering kelp forests, massive seabird die-offs, whale deaths and starving sea lion pups.  

Climate change may even be making El Niño stronger, according to new research. During normal years, El Niño brings heavy rain to some regions and drought, heat waves and wildfires to others. However, the modern El Niño is more than 36% stronger than it was before the industrial era began in the mid-1800s. The strength of El Niño has increased by 16% just over the last 40 years. The climate crisis could fuel even more intense weather in this year’s El Niño.

What can we do about this?

A warmer ocean puts the whole world in hot water, figuratively and literally. There is nothing unusual about natural weather patterns like El Niño, but factors like the climate crisis and a warming ocean could be pushing these weather patterns to new extremes. Put simply, the more we rely on dirty fossil fuels, the more our ocean and marine wildlife will suffer from rising ocean temperatures. But we can change course if we act now.

Ocean Conservancy is urgently working to phase out harmful offshore oil and gas drilling, transition to clean ocean energy and evaluate emerging technologies that reduce and remove carbon pollution. We are also leading international efforts to decarbonize the shipping industry, which emits roughly 1 billion tons of greenhouse gases each year.

This work is essential, and we cannot do it alone. Take action now to help us tackle the climate crisis head-on, protect marine life and defend our ocean’s future.

Our Ocean is Sending a Warning

…and it’s time for Congress to listen. Our elected officials must take action to move away from dirty fossil fuels that exacerbate climate change and toward clean energy. Add your name now.

Take Action

The post Climate change, El Niño and a Warming Ocean appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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How Orlando Communities are Tackling Plastic Pollution

The city of Orlando is known above all else for its world-class amusement parks. In fact, hundreds of thousands of people visit the city every year from all across the globe. They might never step foot on one of Florida’s famous beaches. But in the Sunshine State, where the ocean is never more than 60 miles away, all water is connected—and what happens on land has downstream impacts on the coasts. Street litter can travel through canals and streams and out into the ocean.

In fact, Ocean Conservancy conducted a study with University of Georgia’s Circularity Informatics Lab to investigate where waste comes from, how it moves through a community, and where it ends up. The assessment found that plastic fragments, tobacco products and food-related plastic packaging are among the area’s most common litter items, while plastic bags are the largest source of recycling-bin contamination. The assessment also found that Orlando uses more plastic-foam takeout packaging than other Florida cities studied, highlighting opportunities to reduce waste before it reaches streets, waterways and the ocean.

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Working together

Along the way, plastic pollution can harm fish, birds and manatees. Even small amounts of ingested plastic can have devastating consequences. Concerned residents of Orlando are tired of picking up litter and worried about the impacts of plastics on wildlife, the environment and human health. Now, they are working together to reduce the amount of waste the community generates. In 2025, Ocean Conservancy worked with Florida Sea Grant and IDEAS For Us to host a series of workshops focused on identifying opportunities to reduce plastic waste throughout the city—as as part of Ocean Conservancy’s broader Plastic Free Cities work in the state. The workshops highlighted schools and large-scale venues as two categories ripe with opportunity to reduce waste and raise awareness about plastic pollution, among both residents and visitors to the region. In the final workshop, key stakeholders developed a plan to begin a coordinated coalition to take action against plastic pollution, starting with these categories.

Zero Waste Orlando

In 2026, Zero Waste Orlando was formed by the same stakeholders who participated in the workshops, with Orlando-based staff at Keep Orlando Beautiful leading the coalition and Ocean Conservancy facilitating its work. The coalition aims to reduce waste through behavior change and local policy. By bringing together business owners, policy experts, schoolteachers and long-term residents, the coalition draws on local knowledge and diverse expertise to identify practical solutions. This hyper-local model has demonstrated success elsewhere in Florida, including through the Zero Waste Miami coalition, and creates opportunities for collaboration across sectors.

Zero Waste Orlando is already taking steps to turn its goals into action. Members have formed subcommittees focused on reducing waste in schools and improving local policies relating to waste, with immediate plans to increase composting literacy in elementary schools this academic year. These efforts offer a starting point for helping students understand what happens to waste and how everyday choices can reduce the amount sent to landfills. The coalition also has opportunities to address waste challenges identified in the assessment, from finding alternatives to single-use food containers to improving recycling education and advocating for plastic-reduction policies. As members develop their strategy, these findings can help guide their priorities.

While Zero Waste Orlando has only just begun, it provides a platform for passionate residents to coordinate their efforts and work together to build a cleaner, healthier, plastic-free Orlando. If you are local and want to join the coalition, email Florida@oceanconservancy.org. To find and join a plastic-reduction coalition in your region, you can use the Story of Stuff’s “Reuse Changemaker Map.”

Tackle Plastic Pollution

Whether or not you are local to Orlanda or Florida, you can take action to tackle plastic pollution from right where you are. Add your name and call on Congress to pass the Rewarding Efforts to Decrease Unrecycled Contaminants in Ecosystems (REDUCE) Act now.

TAKE ACTION

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Celebrating 41 Years of the International Coastal Cleanup®

This fall, Ocean Conservancy is celebrating its 41st annual International Coastal Cleanup^® (ICC), once again bringing together volunteers to protect the beaches and waterways we all love. Ocean Conservancy recently hosted flagship events in Long Beach and Washington, D.C. that celebrated this global movement close to home.

Over the past four decades, nearly 20 million volunteers have rolled up their sleeves to remove more than 405 million pounds of trash from beaches and waterways around the world. And their impact extends far beyond what they collect. ICC volunteers have documented nearly 440 million individual items, creating the world’s largest marine debris database and providing invaluable information that helps Ocean Conservancy and others better understand—and tackle—ocean plastic pollution.

This year’s celebration continued that incredible legacy. At Alamitos Beach in Southern California, more than 150 volunteers gathered on September 19 and removed 1,109 pounds of trash, alongside members of Team USA Artistic Swimming and Olympic and Paralympic athletes. In Washington, D.C., 439 volunteers gathered on September 26 to remove 2,182 pounds of trash from Anacostia Park along the Anacostia River.

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“I am so grateful to all of the volunteers who came out today for our ocean—and every volunteer who has made the last 41 years of impact possible,” said Ocean Conservancy’s Senior Director of Conservation Cleanups, Allison Schutes. “Every piece of plastic collected helps protect marine animals and habitats and contributes to research and advocacy.”

And the impact doesn’t stop when the cleanup ends. During International Coastal Cleanup events, volunteers do more than remove trash: They document what they find, helping build a clearer picture of the plastic pollution threatening our waterways and wildlife. Through the Clean Swell^® app or paper data sheets, ICC volunteers contribute to Ocean Conservancy’s online, open-access database, the world’s largest repository of marine debris data. These records help scientists, conservation groups and governments understand pollution trends and identify solutions.

That data can also drive meaningful policy change. ICC data were recently used in a peer-reviewed study showing that plastic bag bans lead to reduced plastic bag pollution. The data have also helped advance policies ranging from California’s SB 54 to Florida’s balloon release ban and the federal Farewell to Foam Act. From a neighborhood cleanup to statewide action, every piece of documented trash helps build the evidence needed to tackle plastic pollution at its source.

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Want to get involved?

Whether you join a local cleanup, record the trash you find using the Clean Swell app, or take action to reduce plastic pollution, you can be part of this incredible collective effort to protect our ocean. Here are a few ways to make an impact:

• Find a cleanup near you.
• Download our Clean Swell app to easily record the trash you collect.
• Take action to reduce plastic pollution.
• Explore our Wildlife Impact Calculator to estimate the potential benefits of your cleanup for marine wildlife.
• Donate today to Ocean Conservancy to help us fight plastic pollution for years to come!

The post Celebrating 41 Years of the International Coastal Cleanup® appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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