The High Seas Treaty, formally the UN Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement), has won the 2025 Earthshot Prize, founded by Prince William to recognise environmental innovation.

Why does this matter? The BBNJ winning the Earthshot prize underscores the recognised importance of the ocean by protecting two-thirds previously vulnerable to deep-sea mining and other exploitative practices due to not being under any national jurisdiction. The win comes during a growing movement to recognise the ocean as the planet’s blue lung, producing over 50% of the planets oxygen and providing the largest carbon sink.

A recent OECD report found that if the ocean were a country, it would be the world’s fifth-largest economy. Ocean services provide income for 600 million people globally, and contribute to the lives of billions. Currently just 1% of global climate finance supports ocean-related solutions to climate change, but the Baku to Belém Roadmap, released before COP30 and inspired by COP29 points to the importance of more funding going towards oceans, noting that scaling ocean finance is “critical” for the future.

Marinez Scherer, marine biologist and Special Envoy for Oceans at COP30, in her opening speech  reiterated the need for urgent attention on oceans and the importance of mobilising finance as a partner – not a victim – of mitigation and adaption efforts.

Since 1995, the ocean economy has grown faster than any other, driven by marine biotech innovation, from low-carbon foods to new bio-based materials. Blue food, understood as wild or farmed fish, shellfish, seaweed and other aquatic plants and animals, provides a cleaner way for populations to access protein and nutrition, on average generating less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to food produced on land.

By changing diet to more blue food consumption, CO2 emissions could drop as much as 1.06 Gt per year by 2050, providing a considerable contribution towards  net-zero targets and demonstrating the importance of financing the development of aquaculture technologies for future food security with less impact on the planet.

The funding gap for SDG 14, “Life Below Water”, is estimated at around $149bn per year. This illustrates how far current investment falls short of what is required to protect marine ecosystems. Many hope that COP30 serves as a catalyst for closing this gap, particularly as recognition grows that the ocean holds some of the most powerful levers for climate mitigation.

The Belem Ocean Declaration, a document from Ocean Pavilion released before the start of COP30, aims to bring the role of the ocean to the forefront of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) processes. The declaration calls for the development of new technologies to monitor threats such as  plastic contamination and sea level rise, as well as engaging with private sector finance to scale ocean solutions.

Despite the ocean’s importance, corporate accountability remains weak, as companies have very little impetus to measure their impact. A recent study found that fewer than 25% of the world’s largest ocean-linked companies report any ocean-specific impacts. This accentuates the need to develop technology and methods to monitor blue industries, with COP30 signalling what many anticipate will be an “era of implementation” where more nature-based indicators are incorporated into climate adaptation strategies.

Although the High Seas Treaty does contain weaknesses, as noted by Ocean 14 Capital previous blog, its Earthshot win has sparked new momentum for the blue finance. The treaty has helped elevate ocean protection to a top-tier topic at COP30, bringing together governments, NGOs and businesses to assert the ocean’s importance to both planetary and economic health. In the wake of COP30, the tide may be about to change on ocean finance.