Policy Brief: Financing Waves

Financing Waves: Mobilising Finance in the Current Multilateral Ocean Policy Context

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provides the legal bedrock for ocean governance, with its principle of the “Common Heritage of Humankind” serving as the guiding tenet for the High Seas Treaty and governing the international seabed. The UNFCCC Paris Agreement and the CBD Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) provide overarching climate and biodiversity mandates, respectively. Other international policy instruments must be coherent with their goals. The recent landmark advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) strengthens climate mandates by confirming states’ obligations to tackle climate change. 

The Ocean must be considered a unifying thread across these frameworks.  

In this brief, we summarise the financing components across several ocean governance instruments in differing stages of design and implementation: 

• The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement. It aims to limit global warming to 1.5°C, a target significantly supported by ocean-based climate solutions that could reduce the emissions gap by up to 35% by 2050¹. 

• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. It commits nearly 200 countries to protect 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030 (“30×30”). Achieving this requires an estimated USD$15.8 billion annually for ocean conservation. 

• The Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement or High Seas Treaty). Having reached the required 60 ratifications, the Agreement will enter into force. This Agreement is crucial for protecting marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, where only 1.5% is currently protected².  

• The United Nations (UN) Global Plastics Treaty. Currently under negotiation, it aims to tackle plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.  

• The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Net-Zero Framework. With a decision on its adoption postponed to 2026, it will establish a new set of international regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships, a sector accounting for 3% of global GHG emissions³.  

• The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. Having just entered into force, it aims to curb harmful subsidies estimated at USD$22 billion annually⁴, which drive overfishing.