Dubai, (Asian independent) At the Ocean Pavilion at COP28, Bloomberg Philanthropies CEO Patti Harris, US Special Presidential Envoy on Climate John Kerry, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean Peter Thomson, and others on Saturday announced the formation of Ocean Resilience and Climate Alliance (ORCA) by leading climate and ocean institutions.
With an initial pledge of more than $250 million, Ballmer Group, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Builders Vision, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust, Oak Foundation, Oceankind, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Rivian Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Vere Initiatives, and others have come together to form a funder collaborative focused on advancing ocean-based solutions to fight climate change.
Earlier in the day, during the World Climate Action Summit, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28 Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak highlighted the importance of elevating ocean solutions to fight the climate crisis in her opening remarks.
“In June 2025, France, together with Costa Rica, will be hosting the Third UN Ocean Conference in Nice. We will need concrete solutions and commitments to enhance the power of our ocean to fight climate change. This new coalition serves as a testament to the collective strength achieved when we unite, mobilising the necessary funding to support on-the-ground actions and drive progress for our ocean and planet,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.
ORCA will help tackle the global climate crisis through coordination and collaboration within the ocean community. Its mission in part will focus on how philanthropy can play a leading role in unlocking capital that can help scale ocean-based solutions.
Over the past two years, members of the ORCA coalition led by Oceankind and Builders Vision, have worked with trusted partners across civil society to identify high-impact opportunities to catalyze funding into global programs that accelerate the role of the ocean sector in fighting climate change.
Studies show that ocean-based interventions could account for nearly half of the necessary carbon solutions needed to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. Strengthening coastal resilience efforts is also critical to protect the well-being of the nearly 1.4 billion people around the world living in low-lying areas.
Despite this, funding to climate mitigation receives just two per cent of total philanthropic giving, and ocean conservation receives less than one per cent.
The coalition combines the collective power of philanthropies, nonprofit organizations, local communities, and Indigenous Peoples to make ocean ecosystems more resilient and balanced and help ensure that solutions are just, equitable, and center the frontline coastal communities that are most impacted by ocean-climate issues. Additionally, as governments work toward the 30 by 30 target, a global initiative that aims to protect at least 30 per cent of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030, ORCA represents a uniquely significant injection of funding that will help achieve that goal.
