To bridge the gap between climate action ambitions and funding, innovative financing solutions, including government-backed guarantees and blended-finance instruments, are essential to mobilize private capital for ocean initiatives.

Looking ahead, the Blue Economy and Finance Forum scheduled for June 2025 aims to unlock financing for ocean-based solutions that promote biodiversity and economic development.

Future actions will require cross-sector collaboration and increased financing to expand marine protected areas and decarbonize industries like shipping, emphasizing that investment in ocean health is crucial for a sustainable future.

As countries prepare to submit updated NDCs under the Paris Agreement in early 2025, the emphasis on ocean-based solutions at COP29 could significantly influence global climate strategies.

The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku has underscored the urgent need for transformative climate action, particularly emphasizing the ocean's critical role in addressing climate change.

This conference has built on momentum from previous discussions, notably the Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue initiated at COP25 in 2019, which recognized the vital importance of ocean action for climate solutions.

The ocean serves as the planet's largest carbon sink, absorbing 25% of carbon dioxide emissions and 90% of excess heat, making ocean-based solutions essential for achieving up to 35% of global emissions reduction targets by 2050.

Despite the ocean's significance, global climate strategies have often overlooked it, focusing primarily on renewable energy and emissions reductions, which presents a crucial opportunity to integrate ocean health into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Small island developing states (SIDS), such as Palau, manage 30% of the world's territorial waters but receive less than 2% of global climate finance, highlighting a significant funding imbalance that threatens their survival.

For SIDS, climate policy is essential for survival, as they face severe threats from coral bleaching, extreme weather events, and rising sea levels.

The shipping industry, a major source of carbon emissions, has the potential for a low-carbon transition through green technologies, yet it faces significant investment challenges due to perceived risks.

Nature-based solutions, such as restoring mangroves, seagrasses, and coral reefs, not only sequester carbon but also protect coastlines and support local economies, as demonstrated in Palau's marine protected areas.