The ocean, a climate safeguard

Key Messages

• The ocean is a "climate regulator" for the planet. In 50 years, it will have absorbed 93% of the excess heat on earth, and 25% of the CO2 released by human activities, thus limiting the warming of the atmosphere.
   
• However, this is at the cost of significant repercussions on its chemical and physical functioning, including warming, acidification, deoxygenation and sea level rise.
   
• The ocean proposes different solutions to limit global warming, which researchers have categorized. We have solutions called Decisive, Low Regret, Unproven and Risky.
   
• While Decisive and Low-Regret measures are clearly a priority for action, they will not be sufficient. Scientific research must continue to explore the field of Unproven solutions and to understand the conditions of application of Risky solutions.