“We call on Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Rodrigo Chaves Robles, as hosts of UNOC, and all participating nations, to support a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to protect our ocean and future”
On World Ocean Day, we, Members of Parliament from 39 States, call on the hosts of the United Nations Ocean Conference, President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron and President of the Republic of Costa Rica Rodrigo Chaves Robles, and all participating nations, to speak out for the end of fossil fuel proliferation.
As the planet's principal climate regulator, the ocean is essential to preserving the habitability of our world. Yet, the conference which opens tomorrow under the Presidency of France and Costa Rica overlooks one of the primary causes of the ocean’s destruction: our addiction to fossil fuels.
Until now, the ocean has been our best ally in the face of climate change, absorbing almost 30% of our CO₂ emissions and over 93% of the excess heat generated by human activities. But today, the ocean is warming, acidifying, and rising at unprecedented speed. Extreme meteorological events such as heavy downpours, hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons are becoming more frequent and intense, drawing their energy from warmer waters.
Altered ocean currents and climate disruption rhyme with more heatwaves, droughts and wildfires. Record CO₂ emissions, ocean temperatures and acidification threaten coastal and marine ecosystems as well as human communities. Corals are doomed to disappear in a world of 2°C warming while some whale species are starting to starve. The future of fishing and food security for whole swathes of humanity is compromised. A billion people are at immediate risk worldwide by rising sea levels. Within a few decades, the very existence of entire Small Island States is threatened. In short, the ocean is on the brink of irreversible collapse, and our blue planet will not be so hospitable if we let the ocean turn against us.
The cure is as clear as it is imperative: an equitable, multilateral shutdown of fossil fuel expansion, supported by a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty. Since 2019, this initiative has gained support from sixteen States, institutions such as the World Health Organization, thousands of climate scientists, and over a hundred Nobel Prize winners.
Never have the stakes been so high. In 2024, we crossed the 1.5°C warming threshold, and scientists have warned that staying below the 2°C temperature rise threshold becomes increasingly unattainable.
Opening up new fossil fuel projects accelerates the global catastrophe. In May 2024, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea issued a landmark opinion, obliging States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in order to protect the ocean. Nonetheless, the fossil industry keeps developing new projects around the planet, mainly offshore, while reneging on former climate commitments, despite the International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) both stressing that there is no room for new oil, gas, and coal projects. Dealing with ocean protection, climate change and fossil fuel issues separately guarantees our collective failure to act on the current rapid destruction of the Earth System.
The worsening severity of the climate and environmental breakdown underscores the necessity for immediate and bold leadership to transition towards a fossil-free world and ocean. We call on President Emmanuel Macron and President Rodrigo Chaves Robles, as hosts of this historic United Nations Ocean Conference, and all participating nations, to support a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to protect our ocean and future, and to steer humanity away from destructive fossil fuel dependency toward a sustainable future.
The time to act is now.
See the full list of signatories here.
