139th Edition
SO much good news
Hi everyone!
In this week’s search for updates in the ocean climate industry, I found so much good news that I’ll actually have to ration it all for future editions. That is HUGE!
Catch you next week for the last edition for world oceans month.
News
Offering good news for coastal ecosystems, new research finds that global mangrove forests are no longer in net decline, with natural regeneration and restoration efforts driving a worldwide rebound that strengthens coastal resilience, supports fisheries, and enhances blue carbon storage. The full scientific article can be found here.
After widespread backlash from scientists and lawmakers, the Trump administration’s National Science Foundation reversed its plan to dismantle the Ocean Observatories Initiative, preserving a critical network of more than 900 ocean sensors that underpin climate research, weather forecasting, and marine ecosystem monitoring.
Frontier is committing an additional $915 million (bringing its total to $1.8 billion) to an advance market commitment for carbon removal, with Anthropic joining existing buyers Stripe, Google, Shopify, Salesforce, and H&M Group, focusing future purchases on a smaller set of high-conviction, gigaton-scale-potential companies with clearer paths to long-term policy-driven demand. This could (hopefully) be huge for mCDR!
This June 2026 World Economic Forum report argues that the ocean economy must move beyond merely sustaining current conditions to actively regenerating marine ecosystems, and lays out an operational framework—built around governance, finance, human capacity, and technology/AI—for shifting traditional, growth, and frontier ocean sectors toward net-positive ecological and social outcomes.
The Carbon to Sea Initiative announced a $5 million Request for Proposals, launching in July, to expand its Global OAE Field Research Network. They aim to fund field sites and international research collaborations, with a particular interest in Global South participation, to generate the real-world data needed to assess the safety, effectiveness, and scalability of ocean alkalinity enhancement as a carbon removal method.
The Journal of Ocean Technology has published an issue focusing on “Startups for a Sustainable Ocean Economy”.
This UK government press release, announced by Marine Minister Emma Hardy at the Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, details a new £13.9 million Blue Planet Fund investment aimed at building climate resilience, restoring marine ecosystems, and tackling plastic pollution in vulnerable coastal communities worldwide.
Coast 4C, a regenerative seaweed company working with smallholder farmers in the Philippines, has raised an oversubscribed $2.5 million seed round led by Hatch Blue's Blue Revolution Fund to scale its traceable supply platform for global carrageenan processors while supporting marine conservation in Southeast Asia.
Opportunities
The Earthna Prize is a Qatar Foundation initiative that awards a $1 million pool to four winners for projects that use traditional knowledge and cultural heritage to address pressing environmental challenges across water, food, terrestrial, marine, and built-environment systems. Their applications for 2026 are open until July 20th.
The Offshore Wind Innovation Hub in New York has opened their 2026 call for innovators for their Innovator Program. Applications are open until July 27th.
UC San Diego’s StartBlue Accelerator has opened applications for their immersive fall program.
The newest iteration of UCSC’s Blue Pioneer’s program has been announced, this year taking place as a two week immersion acceleration in Zanzibar. Check here for more details.
Canada’s first blue economy accelerator Blue Action Canada has opened applications for their 2026 cohort.
Apply to Katapult’s Ocean Accelerator program that is designed to guide founders through complex entrepreneurial issues, add structure, and help raise a startup’s next round.
Fair Carbon has launched a Blue Carbon Academy that aims to help with the fine-tuning of the design of a Blue Carbon project.
Join the Blue Growth Community to get access to opportunities, expertise, and connections as an innovator.
Events
SeaAhead’s Pilot Showcase, focused on coastal resilience and coastal asset protection, will be hosted in Boston June 24th-25th.
AltaSea is having an Open House at the Port of LA entitled “Modern Innovation Through the Blue Economy” on June 27th at 10AM.
The Blue Institute’s BX6 Blue Excelerator Demo Day will be hosted virtually on June 25th at 10AM ET.
The Waterfront Alliance is hosting a webinar entitled “From Tall Ships to Blue Highways: Honoring America’s Past, Navigating New York’s Future” on June 30th.
The 7th World Conference for Marine Biodiversity will be taking place in Belgium 17-20 November 2026. You can register here.
Learning
This article reports on new research showing that restored oyster reefs remove more excess coastal nitrogen than previously recognized, since a meaningful share gets buried as reefs grow, beyond the denitrification process scientists had mainly studied before, with some reefs trapping more nitrogen than others.
Check out this blog post recapping conversations from OCEANOISE 2026, reflecting growing evidence that shipping, deep-sea mining, and naval activities can disrupt marine life from plankton to whales, underscoring the need for stronger monitoring frameworks and policies that account for subtle but cumulative ecological impacts.
Companies doing the work
Smart Seawall builds patented wave-diverting seawall systems that protect shorelines while also integrating utilities, supporting aquatic habitats, and creating high-end waterfront amenities for municipal, residential, and NGO clients.
Flood Dynamics is an MIT-born climate tech company whose platform combines physics-based hydrodynamic simulation with AI to give cities, infrastructure owners, developers, and insurers precise, segment-level flood risk assessments, mitigation planning tools, and real-time early-warning alerts to act ahead of flood disasters.