Deep Dives
Thought-provoking research providing extensive learning opportunities
Ocean Conservancy Plastics & Pollution
Volunteers removed 107,219 items of personal protective equipment (PPE) from beaches and waterways worldwide in second half of 2020.
Read more → (15 minute read)
Ricart, A.M. et al., Global Change Biology
Global‐scale ocean acidification has spurred interest in the capacity of seagrass ecosystems to increase seawater pH within crucial shoreline habitats through photosynthetic activity.
Read more → (30 minute read)
Peter Howard & Derek Sylvan, Institute for Policy Integrity Energy Solutions
Thousands of economists have spent years or decades studying the interaction between climate change and the economic systems that underlie modern life. The views of these experts can help clarify how climate change will likely affect our society and economy, and how policymakers should approach greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts.
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IOC-UNESCO
A recent analysis prepared by IOC-UNESCO explores tangible ways in which linkages between the Ocean Decade, with its vision of the ‘science we need for the ocean we want’, and the Ocean Panel, with its aims of ‘safeguarding the long-term health and resilience of the ocean’, can be leveraged and optimized.
Read more → (30 minute read)
Roque, BM et al., PLoS ONE Energy Solutions Fisheries & Aquaculture
Livestock production, particularly ruminants, contributes to anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. These emissions are estimated to be 7.1 Gt carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents annually which accounts for approximately 14.5% of the global anthropogenic GHG emissions. The majority of GHG emissions from livestock production is in the form of methane (CH4), which is produced largely through enteric fermentation and to a lesser extent manure decomposition.
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Andrew Willner, Mongabay Energy Solutions Shipping & Ports
Today, startup companies like Fair Transport (with its retrofitted wooden vessels Tres Hombres and Nordlys); modest sized proof-of-concept firms, with purpose-built vessels like Grain de Sail; and large cargo ship retrofits and purpose-built vessels like Neoline’s new large cargo vessels, are starting to address CO2 emissions.
Read more → (13 minute read)
Heather Clancy, GreenBiz Energy Solutions
Given the devastating economic toll the COVID-19 pandemic has had on women and girls, the imperative to mark International Women’s Day carries more weight than usual this year.
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Duarte, C.M. et al., UNESCO
Over the last decades scientists have discovered that seagrass meadows, tidal marshes, and mangroves – “blue carbon” ecosystems – are among the most intensive carbon sinks in the biosphere. By sequestering and storing significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and ocean, blue carbon ecosystems help mitigate climate change. But conversion and degradation of these ecosystems can also release billions of tons of CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the ocean and atmosphere and contribute to global warming.
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UNEP FI SBE
This seminal guidance is a market-first practical toolkit for financial institutions to pivot their activities towards financing a sustainable blue economy.
Designed for banks, insurers and investors, the guidance outlines how to avoid and mitigate environmental and social risks and impacts, as well as highlighting opportunities, when providing capital to companies or projects within the blue economy.
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UNESCO-IOC
As Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) emerges around the world as a practical tool for promoting a more rational use of the ocean, it could also play a significant role in promoting the rapid and environmentally sound development of ocean-based activities and growth of the Blue Economy.
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Kilcher, L., Fogarty, M. and Lawson, M., National Renewable Energy Laboratory Energy Solutions
This report summarizes the best available data on U.S. marine energy resources at the national, state, and regional scales. Results are primarily based on U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded marine energy resource assessments for wave, tidal currents, ocean currents, ocean thermal gradients, and river currents.
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Greg Carlock and Dan Lashof, World Resources Institute Energy Solutions
Climate change already affects millions of Americans, from worsening asthma and other respiratory problems to spurring destructive and costly hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves and other extreme weather.
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Ahren Lester, Environmental Finance
This year's edition contains 14 chapters from leading institutions in the green, social and sustainability bond markets analysing the main developments in 2020 and the outlook for 2021. These contributions are supplemented by graphics and data from the EF Bond Database.
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Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition Fisheries & Aquaculture
This brief sets out the contribution that aquaculture can make to healthy diets and resilient food systems. It provides guidance for policymakers as they consider decisions related to the expansion of aquaculture, balancing issues related to diets and food security, economic growth and employment, and the environment.
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United Nations Global Compact Fisheries & Aquaculture
Weren’t able to attend the Accelerating Sustainable Seafood webinar? Find out about its key outcomes.
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United Nations Global Compact Fisheries & Aquaculture
Puts forward six key enablers which could be advanced by all systemic shapers to accelerate the sustainable development of the seafood industry - from unlocking sustainable finance and ratifying international conventions, to moving beyond data disclosure, rewarding progress, and incorporating wider food system dimensions into both policy and sustainability-related services.
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Massachusetts Ocean Acidification Commission Fisheries & Aquaculture
Since the industrial revolution, the world’s oceans have become increasingly acidic. The main drivers of ocean acidification in Massachusetts are (1) global increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide resulting from anthropogenic emissions, and (2) local nutrient pollution leading to the eutrophication of coastal waters.
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Richir, J. et al., Environment International Shipping & Ports
Trace elements (TEs) frequently contaminate coastal marine sediments with many included in priority chemical lists or control legislation. These, improved waste treatment and increased recycling have fostered the belief that TE pollution is declining. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of long-term robust datasets to support this confidence.
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HM Treasury
Economics is a discipline that shapes decisions of the utmost consequence, and so matters to us all. The Dasgupta Review at last puts biodiversity at its core and provides the compass that we urgently need. In doing so, it shows us how, by bringing economics and ecology together, we can help save the natural world at what may be the last minute – and in doing so, save ourselves.
Read more → (more than an hour read)
HM Treasury
Economics is a discipline that shapes decisions of the utmost consequence, and so matters to us all. The Dasgupta Review at last puts biodiversity at its core and provides the compass that we urgently need. In doing so, it shows us how, by bringing economics and ecology together, we can help save the natural world at what may be the last minute – and in doing so, save ourselves.
Read more → (more than 30 minute read)
