Opportunities For Humanity in 2026

Editions
2026 2025
The ocean continues to offer critical opportunities for Humanity. It plays a key role in buffering climate change and remains a vital source of nutrition for populations worldwide. It also represents significant economic potential and a space for innovation.
Societal HarmsProtection Efforts
Societal HarmsProtection Efforts

Global nutrition from fisheries increasingly relies on circular economy practices.

In 2023, global marine animal production, including both fisheries and aquaculture, stalled at 115 million tonnes, a number comparable to last year. In addition, the global production of marine aquatic plants was 39 million tonnes. Thus, global marine production, including animals and plants, reached a total of 154 million tonnes. Aquaculture production represented 48% of this global marine production. Marine animal production is an important source of nutrition for people around the world, with around 89% of all aquatic animal production destined for direct human consumption in 2022. Beyond direct consumption, a significant share of marine animal production is used to produce fishmeal and fish oil, which are primarily used in animal feed, largely driven by growing demand for aquaculture. By-products of marine fisheries have supplied an increasing share of fishmeal and fish oil production, with 34% of fishmeal and 53% of fish oil sourced from by-products in 2022. This increasing use of fisheries by-products represents an opportunity for advancing circular economy practices.

Over 2,000 startups are driving ocean innovations.

The Ocean is increasingly recognised as a driver of innovation, particularly in food and energy systems, climate change mitigation and adaptation, human health, and coastal resilience. Over the past decade, more than 2,000 startups have emerged worldwide across the Ocean economy, and more are coming. Their role in driving digital transformation and cleaner energy adoption can help Ocean industries shift away from harmful business-as-usual practices and ease current Ocean economy productivity stagnation and decline. However, the external conditions under which businesses operate remain insufficiently aligned with sustainability goals and continue to perpetuate systemic risks. Addressing these challenges requires collaboration and coordinated collective and individual action to create an enabling environment in which businesses can contribute to a just and sustainable future, alongside the establishment of rigorous standards and science-based regulatory pathways.

Ocean-focused impact investing is expanding.

In 2018, four environmentally beneficial investment funds were dedicated to Ocean health and sustainability worldwide. By 2025, more than 40 venture and impact funds were active or in fundraising across the Ocean economy. These investments cover a range of sectors, including sustainable seafood, seaweed production, Ocean pollution mitigation, coastal resilience, and Ocean data. Financial commitments to Ocean-related activities have increased accordingly. Official development assistance for the Ocean economy reached USD$ 3.5 billion in 2022, a 45% increase from 2021. Of this, USD $ 2.4 billion (69%) supported initiatives that promote sustainable Ocean activities and protect marine ecosystems. Stakeholders announced €8.7 billion in firm financial commitments for Ocean-related projects by 2030, comprising €4.7 billion from philanthropies and private investors and €4 billion from public financial institutions (BEFF, 2025). These amounts remain below estimates of the annual investment required to achieve SDG 14, which are approximately USD$ 175 billion per year by 2030, indicating a gap between current financial commitments and the scale of transformation required.

The ocean buffers climate change.

The Ocean has a natural capacity to remove and store heat and carbon away from the atmosphere and, as such, is crucial in mitigating climate change. It has absorbed about 12 billion tonnes CO2 per year on average over the last decade, roughly 29% of human-caused CO2 emissions, resulting in Ocean acidification. This Ocean sink has been stagnant since 2016, largely in response to climate variability modulating the expected sink growth due to the atmospheric CO2 increase. The 2023/2024 sink strength was further affected by the El Niño conditions and the near-global marine heatwave. Greenhouse gas emissions have caused an Earth energy imbalance, leading to heat accumulation in the climate system that has reached its highest levels in modern records over the past two decades. The Ocean absorbs roughly 90% of this excess heat, resulting in Ocean warming, while the remaining 10% warms the continents and atmosphere and melts ice on the planet.