On October 4, 2022, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Council on Environmental Quality, on behalf of the interagency Ocean Policy Committee, requested input from all interested parties to inform the development of a U.S. Ocean Climate Action Plan (OCAP) that will help guide and coordinate actions by the Federal government and civil society to address ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes-based mitigation and adaptation solutions to climate change.
The OCAP will summarize planned Federal ocean-based climate action and the benefits of these actions, identify gaps in knowledge and application of knowledge to emerging ocean-climate issues, and recommend actions to advance the effectiveness of the Nation's response to the impacts of climate change. The input received will be used to inform the development of the OCAP.
Examples of ocean-based climate solutions include: harnessing ocean renewable energy, protecting and restoring ecosystems that sequester carbon and support biological diversity, expanding the extent and level of protection of marine protected areas, pursuing responsible and efficacious ocean-based carbon dioxide removal and sequestration, and decarbonizing shipping.
Responses are due by November 18, 2022