As the International Negotiating Committee (INC) works to create a global plastics treaty, it faces a challenge of unprecedented scale. Plastic pollution has infiltrated every ecosystem from the soil to the ocean. The ocean's role in human survival cannot be overstated: "1.2 billion people are directly dependent on the ocean for their food, and every breath we take as human beings comes from the ocean," says Professor Sarah Dunlop, the director of plastics and human health at Minderoo Foundation. This interconnectedness means that plastic pollution in the ocean is a direct threat to human survival.

Plastics consist of a polymer backbone enhanced with a group of chemicals that provide flexibility, durability and stability. However, these chemical additives are not chemically bonded to the polymer structure, which allows them to leach into our food, beverages, air, and, ultimately, the ocean and broader environment. “This is an invisible threat, and we want to make the invisible visible,” says Professor Dunlop.

Economist Impact, with the support of official host The Nippon Foundation, is hosting the 12th World Ocean Summit in Tokyo in 2025.

The summit convenes the widest cross-section of the ocean community from business and finance to government, national and international policy-makers, civil society and academia.

The summit is designed to instigate action to develop the sustainable ocean economy; to encourage new partnerships across industries, with NGOs, scientists, technology developers and investors. By bringing together all stakeholders in the ocean ecosystem, the summit provides the perfect platform to inspire new synergies, solutions and strategies on the track to meet the 2030 targets in UN SDG 14.

The need for carbon-free energy is pressing, but society must progress with information that ensures we are developing sources that are themselves environmentally responsible and sustainable.

The ocean and its ecosystems are facing unprecedented challenges from climate change which is heating both land and sea to record levels. According to NOAA research forecasts, 40% of the global ocean is experiencing marine heatwave conditions and that figure is expected to remain high through the end of 2023. These anomalously warm ocean temperatures have significant impacts on marine life and coastal communities and economies, bleaching coral reefs, creating conditions that can favor harmful algal blooms and decreasing the productivity of cold water ecosystems like those off California and other upwelling zones that harbor whales, salmon and lush kelp forests. Continued observational monitoring helps marine managers and researchers understand and mitigate climate impacts on marine life, but ocean data is also critical when looking to the ocean for climate solutions, including offshore wind and other technologies to generate renewable ocean energy.