Great to speak at the Ocean-Climate Nexus, the key event placing the ocean at the centre of the climate discussion during this week’s London Climate Action Week.
💙 Hosted by Amal Ketata and the Sustainable Ocean Alliance UK hub as well as London Business School Alumni Sustainability Club, the event gathered around 200 people from the private sector, civil society, academia, and policy.
🌊 I shared my perspectives on “accelerating ocean-climate action through finance” in a keynote presentation and talked about the role of financial institutions in a panel discussion on “Private sector: Impact throughout and beyond the value chain”.
💡 Key message: Building on the momentum of the UN Ocean Conference, we now need to act collectively and accelerate meaningful partnerships to deliver on the opportunities created by new blue finance tools and instruments (such as blue bonds, blue carbon credits, marine biodiversity credits and parametric insurance), new guidance (such as the Ocean Investment Protocol co-published by UNEP FI and UN Global Compact) and new initiatives (such as One Ocean Finance and the Biodiversity Credit Alliance).
🤝 I was joined on the private sector panel by fellow panellists Andrew Frederick Johnson (MarFishEco Fisheries Consultants Ltd), Navneet Khinda (Ocean Energy Pathway), Roel Hoenders (International Maritime Organization) and moderator Christopher Caldwell (United Renewables). Great to see private-sector momentum to accelerate ocean-climate solutions across seafood, energy and shipping, with particular emphasis on including traditional, community and Indigenous knowledge in solutions.
🙌 The event also heard about the role of civil society from speakers including Nick Hardman-Mountford, Antoinette Vermilye, Emily G Cunningham MBE, Hugo Tagholm and moderator Rebecca Daniel. The panel spoke about the critical importance of ocean literacy among decision-makers, the need to build trust through transparency and public data in areas such as sewage pollution, powerful community partnerships around blue carbon, and the need to communicate and make success visible for communities.
🙌 Another panel explored the potential of AI and heard from speakers including Chris Gorell Barnes, Joyeeta Das, Laia Romero, Laurens Geffert, PhD, Paige Roepers, and moderator Mary Woodgate. It was fascinating to learn about exciting new AI applications for ocean conservation and regeneration, including for monitoring, predictions and automated decision-making; supporting better decisions on Marine Spatial Planning; and informing materiality assessments by insurers. The panel also looked at concrete AI applications in areas such as tracking and monitoring Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing; feed monitoring for aquaculture; hovering and suction technology (as an alternative to bottom trawling); and optimising speed and routing decisions for vessels.
📢 Thank you all for amplifying the oceans voice at London Climate Action Week!
