Ocean Protections Improve, Climate Risks Grow

Greener Insights #4: Weekly news & insights covering climate, nature & sustainability

Sep 25, 2025

👋 Welcome back!

This week’s highlights: A key oceans treaty comes into force, global fossil fuel production to rise, plus Australia & China set new emissions targets.

Key Oceans Treaty Comes Into Force

A global treaty to protect the world’s oceans and marine life is set to come into force after a critical threshold was reached.

Morocco became the 60th country to ratify the High Seas Treaty, originally developed in 2023, allowing the treaty to come into effect. In doing so, two-thirds of ocean areas outside of national boundaries will now receive critical protections.

The legally binding rules will conserve and sustainably use marine biodiversity, share benefits from marine genetic resources more fairly, create protected areas, and strengthen scientific cooperation.

Why it matters: By protecting the high seas, this treaty helps safeguard not only marine life itself and it's ability to remain resilient to climate pressures, but also helps preserve the vital economic value of the oceans.

👉 Read the UN’s summary of the treaty

New Report Highlights Excessive Fossil Fuel Production

A new report has highlighted that governments, in aggregate, still plan to produce far more fossil fuels that would be consistent with limiting global warming to between 1.5°C and 2°C.

The Production Gap Report found that planned fossil fuel production is in fact higher than it was 2 years ago. Consequently, global commitments to decarbonise under the Paris Agreement are being undermined and quite frankly sit on shaky ground.

Continuation of this direction pushes the Earth's climate further towards to an uncertain path, where various ‘tipping points’ are at risk of being toppled.

In more positive news ……..

Australia Announce More Ambitious Emission Targets

The Australian government has announced plans to increase its emission cuts target to 62% by 2035.

This target, set against a 2005 baseline, enhances the prior goal of 40% by 2030. Unveiling the new pledge, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said:

“This is a responsible target supported by science and a practical plan to get there, built on proven technology.”

The announcement follows Australia’s first Climate Risk Assessment, which warned that over 1.5 million Australians could be at risk from rising sea levels by 2050.

The test will now be see if sufficient actions and investment can be implemented to achieve the targets set, which will not be easy given Australia’s current dependency on coal.

China Commits to Landmark Emissions Target

China has this week, for the first time, committed to specific greenhouse gas emission targets.

President Xi Jinping confirmed to the UN General Assembly that China will target greenhouse gas emission reductions of 7-10% by 2035. Clearly, this still leaves a long way to go in resolving the country's climate impact, but has generally been received as a positive step forward.

However, Climate Action Tracker have advised that:

“Calculations show the new target is unlikely to further drive down emissions, as China is already set to achieve this target with the policies it has in place. This is disappointing as China has the opportunity to decarbonise faster.“

Fact for the Week

By 2050, 68% of the world’s population are expected to live in cities.

This trend makes advancing the sustainable design of our cities vital, both to managing environmental impact and in improving human health over the long term.

Learn more about sustainable cities

Previous Newsletters

More From Greener Insights

Thanks for reading Greener Insights! See you next week for more news, insights and developments impacting our future sustainability.

Greener Insights