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In this Policy Bridge, we present the key issues regarding the safety, efficacy, funding, and governance of coastal and marine systems in support of climate change mitigation. Novel insights into the likely potential of these systems for use in mitigating excess carbon dioxide emissions are presented. There may be potential for coastal blue carbon and marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) actions to impact climate change mitigation significantly over the rest of the 21st century, particularly post 2050. However, governance frameworks are needed urgently to ensure that the potential contribution from coastal and ocean systems to climate change mitigation can be evaluated properly and implemented safely. Ongoing research and monitoring efforts are essential to ensure that unforeseen side effects are identified and corrective action is taken. The co-creation of governance frameworks between academia, the private sector, and policymakers will be fundamental to the safe implementation of mCDR in the future. Furthermore, a radical acceleration in the pace of development of mCDR governance is needed immediately if it is to contribute significantly to the removal of excess carbon dioxide emissions by the latter half of this century. To what extent large-scale climate interventions should be pursued is a decision for policymakers and wider society, but adaptive legal, economic, policy, research, and monitoring frameworks are needed urgently to facilitate informed decision-making around any implementation of mCDR in the coming decades. Coastal and ocean systems cannot be relied upon to deliver significant carbon dioxide removal until further knowledge of specific management options is acquired and evaluated.

The objective of this perspective article is to determine the extent to which processes operating across the air–sea interface are considered in international environmental policy. The ocean is usually important but rarely a defining feature in such policies. We will begin with a brief introduction to the existing relevant treaties and policy frameworks. The provisions within these treaties will be analyzed for instances when air–sea interactions are considered and when they are not. We aim to establish that there is a lack of consideration in international regulation of the interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean, something that is not compatible with the environmental reality. Consequently, we point out examples where we think the air–sea interface could have been incorporated in international legislation. The question of why there is a gap between science and policy, regarding air–sea interactions, is posed and our hypotheses for the answers are outlined. The concept of so-called soft law and related instruments, such as the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, are discussed. We finalize this review with our recommendations for future policymaking across the air–sea interface.

EuroSea brought together key European actors of ocean observation and forecasting with key end users of the ocean observations’ products and services to better integrate existing ocean observation systems and tools, and to bring the coordination to a higher level. The EuroSea WP1 “Governance and coordination of ocean observing and forecasting systems”, in particular, aimed to strengthen the interactions between regional, national, and international observing systems and support the development of a European coordinated system through the Framework of the European Ocean Observing System (EOOS). During the project, the challenges and gaps in the design and coordination of the European ocean observing and forecasting system were identified and mapped. Many gaps and challenges related to the observations of physical, chemical and biological Essential Ocean Variables were identified. Some of these gaps are related to technological advancements, while others are caused by insufficient funding, coordination, management, and cooperation between different entities, as well as limitations in foresight activities, policies and decisions. To enhance the sustainability of European ocean observations, several recommendations were compiled for networks, frameworks, initiatives, Member States, and the European Commission.

Uncertainties concerning deep-seabed mining relate to the expected impacts on the abyssal benthic and pelagic environment and its ecosystems but also include geopolitical, economic, societal and cultural uncertainty. The uncertain impacts from mining lead to anxiety and a low societal acceptance for the activity and are not the same for everybody at the same time. Hence, uncertainty is an important element of the risk involved in deep-seabed mining. This chapter describes the different risks involved, develops a methodology for risk assessment for the exploitation of marine mineral resources that takes into consideration the state of knowledge and evolving research on deep-sea ecosystems, and informs on possible environmental threshold values in relation to deep-seabed mining operations.

Understanding the physical and biogeochemical interactions and feedbacks between the ocean and atmosphere is a vital component of environmental and Earth system research. The ability to predict and respond to future environmental change relies on a detailed understanding of these processes. The Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) is an international research platform that focuses on the study of ocean-atmosphere interactions, for which Future Earth is a sponsor. SOLAS instigated a collaborative initiative process to connect efforts in the natural and social sciences related to these processes, as a contribution to the emerging Future Earth Ocean Knowledge-Action Network (Ocean KAN). This is imperative because many of the recent changes in the Earth system are anthropogenic. An understanding of adaptation and counteracting measures requires an alliance of scientists from both domains to bridge the gap between science and policy. To this end, three SOLAS research areas were targeted for a case study to determine a more effective method of interdisciplinary research: valuing carbon and the ocean’s role; air-sea interactions, policy and stewardship; and, air-sea interactions and the shipping industry.