Oceans came to the forefront of global discussions in 2024 as the realisation that the ocean is the planet’s greatest resource for keeping the climate stable hit home. This year also ushered in an era of honest discussions on global monetary obligations to deliver finance for climate and nature recovery.

We’d like to recap some of the best blue carbon moments from for 2024, and also share the team's highlights from the Blue Carbon Action Partnership (BCAP) this year.

This year we have seen positive moves on the global stage for climate and nature with the announcement at COP29 in Baku of the “Rio Trio”, a coordinated action between the 3 COP presidents that recognises the value of an integrated approach to tackling climate change and biodiversity loss together. This strategic move rippled through conversations at COP29, with discussions on how governments think across the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) goals, with an emphasis on the importance of nature in supporting our climate targets. With only a handful of countries having met the deadline at COP16 this year for submitting national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs), this recognition of how nature targets support climate targets is timely, adding weight to the value of progressing plans for protecting nature.

The launch of the 2030 Coastal Tourism Breakthrough at COP29 was also a significant moment for blue carbon. The Breakthrough builds on the work of several global organizations, including World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the High-Level Panel on Sustainable Ocean Economy and the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism. The initiative promises to invest $30bn per year to support halving emissions of coastal tourism with additional investments being made to support the resilience of local communities, as well as to recover and protect coastal ecosystems.

This new political will for coordination between the COPs creates a context where blue carbon ecosystem projects - which exemplify such an integrated approach - are able to flourish.

As countries prepare to report in 2025 on their NDC commitments made under the Paris agreement, we have seen growing interest in blue carbon - particularly in Asia and South America - with governments exploring how to attract investment and deliver high-quality blue carbon ecosystem projects. A core strand of our work in 2024 has been to support governments, NGOs and local projects to coordinate their blue carbon activity through the development of National BCAPs, helping to create practical frameworks for collaborative action that can drive finance to local projects.

By offering our expertise in how coordination is achieved on the ground - in Colombia, Indonesia, and the Philippines - we have been accelerating the development of local solutions. NBCAP secretariats, hosted by international NGOs including ZSL and Conversation International, are now coordinating activities in these countries, enabling collaboration between relevant ministries, scientists, local NGOs and communities to develop projects that can store carbon, create nature-rich ecosystems, give back to local communities and offer viable opportunities to investors. NBCAPs this year have also been raising awareness of the value of high-quality blue carbon ecosystem projects, offering learning events at COP29, including an event hosted by the Indonesia NBCAP sharing progress to date and the Philippines NBCAP offering on-location workshops at blue carbon projects.

Alongside our work supporting the creation of NBCAPs we’ve been working to encourage governments and NGOs worldwide to take action for blue carbon ecosystems, sharing our knowledge on the stackable benefits of blue carbon.

We’ve placed blue carbon at the heart of conversations at key gatherings this year including: Oxford’s Nature-based Solutions conference, New York Climate Action week and at COP29, where we hosted a cross-sectoral workshop exploring pathways to unlocking investment into blue carbon with governments, corporations, finance institutions, project developers, NGOs and blue carbon experts.

And in the lead up to COP29, we spotlighted how Colombia’s NBCAP is pioneering a climate and nature-positive approach to encourage countries to prioritize alignment between the COPs.

Enabling a deeper understanding of the benefits of blue carbon - in addressing the twin challenges of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss, whilst supporting the needs of local communities - has been central to our conversations. Never has blue carbon’s capacity for addressing these challenges been more relevant.

2024 has been the year where carbon markets took centre stage and the world reckoned with the cost of delivering on the UNFCCC. COP29, billed as ‘the first finance COP’ centred on the question of funding and creating effective carbon market mechanisms, with countries agreeing to mobilize $300 billion of climate finance. This figure was far lower than the sums being called for, and so the question of the role of private finance becomes even more significant. Whilst carbon markets are now well established and reckoned in 2024 to be generating $104 billion dollars in revenue, only a small fraction of this represents blue carbon. Shaping how blue carbon markets develop will be a key focus for 2025 and beyond.

We believe all future discussions at COPs and beyond need to be finance-focused. While progress was made under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, that will support investment into blue carbon, there are important refinements that will be necessary in Article 6.4 so that the new standards adopted can uphold high-quality engagement with local communities, Indigenous peoples, and nature.

We have been tackling the finance question directly this year, launching a global dialogue with financial institutions at London Climate Action week, engaging with financiers to explore mechanisms to deliver what they need and continuing the conversation at COP29 with cross-sectoral events involving governments, corporations, financial institutions, project developers, NGOs, and other experts working to unlock investment into blue carbon ecosystems.

With National Geographic and David Attenborough set to film a new series on the health of the world’s oceans, and the UN Ocean Conference coming up in 2025, there is much to look forward to next year as globally we celebrate that “Nature is also Blue”.

With COP30 on the horizon, we will be working to support governments in making good the promises made at Cali and Baku this year. We are already moving forward with conversations in a number of countries and eagerly anticipate the launch of new NBCAPs in the new year. We will be extending the global discourse on blue carbon with the launch of a new playbook for corporations in spring 2025, providing a “how to” guide to those interested in investing in high-quality blue carbon projects. With all this underway we can safely say the future is most definitely Blue!