Our Ocean Conference Commitment Implementation Progress Update: 2025 – 2026
This working paper presents a global implementation progress update for 2,900 voluntary commitments to ocean action. It analyses implementation of Our Ocean Conference commitments and financial pledges with a focus on 2025 to 2026. It presents policy recommendations to strengthen the immediate and strategic outcomes of the Our Ocean Conference and builds on the 2025 implementation baseline to strengthen global ocean accountability and transparency.
The ocean is essential to all life, regulating our climate and providing nutrition and livelihoods for billions of people. Yet it faces urgent stressors, including climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.
The Our Ocean Conference (OOC) is a critical platform to generate international commitments to address these challenges. Since 2014, the conference has generated 2,900 ambitious, concrete commitments from over 500 organizations in 96 countries. Collectively, these commitments are valued at US$169.2 billion in pledged funds.
Building on WRI's 2025 10-year implementation assessment, this progress update reviews the status of all OOC commitments. It assesses the extent to which OOC commitments have been implemented, with a focus on 2025–26, and identifies trends, successes, and gaps in implementation.
Key Findings
- Based on progress updates by countries and organizations as of May 1, 2026, 1,200 commitments have been reported complete (41 percent), 1,179 are in progress (41 percent), and 521 (18 percent) have not yet been started (Figure ES-1). This represents $26.5 billion in delivered funds from completed commitments.
- Since 2025, 285 new commitments were made, 174 were started, and 70 were completed. This equates to an additional $2.7 billion delivered through completed commitments during this period.
- Future OOCs must go beyond mobilizing new commitments and increase the focus on accountability and implementation. Across the world, countries and organizations are making moderate but measurable progress toward their commitments; however, the ambition and urgency of implementation must ramp up if global ocean conservation goals are to be met by 2030.
- Building accountability and transparency in the commitments process, accelerating implementation of existing commitments, elevating examples of best practice and ocean leadership, and addressing regional and thematic gaps (particularly in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean regions) should be a priority for partner countries, organizations, and the Our Ocean Conference going forward.