World Ocean Summit Europe 2025: Turning Commitments into Action

On 9 September 2025, Ocean Community took part in Economist Impact’s World Ocean Summit Europe in Cascais, Portugal, an event that turned attention from global commitments into regional, Europe-level steps for implementation.

What is the European Ocean Pact (EOP)

To frame what was discussed in Cascais, it helps to understand the European Ocean Pact, which featured prominently throughout the summit:

The Pact was adopted by the European Commission in early June 2025, and formally presented at the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice.

It's non-legislative for now; its role is as a unified reference framework for ocean-related EU policies.

It sets out six priority areas:

• Ocean health (including protecting/restoring degraded marine and coastal habitats)

  
  

• Sustainable blue economy and competitiveness

  
  

• Coastal communities and islands (outermost regions)

  
  

• Ocean research, skills, and literacy; knowledge generation, observation and data infrastructures (e.g. digital twin of the ocean)

  
  

• Maritime security and defence

  
  

• Ocean governance and diplomacy

The EU has pledged ≈ €1 billion to help deliver the Pact’s goals, covering ocean conservation, science, sustainable fishing, and related areas.

There is to be an Ocean Act by 2027: this will bring more binding or codified components, integrate ocean‐related targets, strengthen maritime spatial planning, and establish better enforcement mechanisms.

Also, under the Pact there will be an Ocean Pact Scoreboard to track progress.

What Was Covered: Verified Highlights

The Summit’s agenda included “Keynote: Driving ocean action beyond Nice”, delivered by Peter Thomson (UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean), emphasizing that Europe must convert its declarations into measurable actions.

Topics in panels/workshops included:

• Blue finance: how to unlock investment flows that align with sustainability, nature, and coastal resilience.

  
  

• Ocean innovation & technology: e.g. marine tech, AI, ocean observation (including efforts like the European Digital Twin of the Ocean).

  
  

• Marine biodiversity and marine protected area (MPA) goals: with emphasis on the EU target of protecting 30% of marine areas by 2030.

  
  

• Deep-sea mining, marine exploitation & environmental standards: ethics, precaution, stakeholder engagement.

The format included off-site, immersive activities to ground the discussions: renewable energy/marine renewable energy site visits, aquaculture farms, maritime heritage walks, beach cleanups. These help connect theory with real practice.

The event had high-level representation: policymakers, scientific leadership, civil society, industry. Over half of attendees were director level or above.

Critical Perspectives & Risks Raised

While the commitments are strong, some gaps and concerns were raised by NGOs and experts, which are useful to acknowledge :

• Lack of binding measures: Many EOP commitments are non-binding, or rely on voluntary compliance, which may weaken effectiveness.

  
  

• Destructive practices still allowed: e.g. bottom trawling continuing in marine protected areas, overfishing, nutrient and plastic pollution. Calls for clearer roadmaps and enforcement were repeated.

• Need for clarity and funding: Ensuring that EU Member States have the funds, technical capacity, and political will to carry out the measures. Measuring progress, enforcement, and penalties or incentives for failure/success.

  
  

• Ocean literacy & inclusiveness: Despite being in the priorities, there is concern that ocean literacy (education, public awareness) and inclusion of smaller/coastal/outermost communities may get less attention in implementation.

Importance for Ocean Community

• The Pact, and events such as Cascais, offer a framework for scaling up ocean action in Europe, not only through policy shifts but through measurable investment and multi-stakeholder collaboration.

  
  

• The €1 billion pledge, as well as planned acts like the Ocean Act (2027), show that the EU is preparing more enforceable mechanisms. If done well, that means less risk of good policies without follow-through.

  
  

• Aligning with the Pact’s priorities could help participate strategically (or lead) in areas like marine restoration, blue economy innovation, AI/data for governance, coastal resilience, etc.

  
  

• Being aware of criticisms (NGO perspective) helps anticipate where to push for stronger implementation: e.g. ensure that MPAs are actually enforced, practices like bottom trawling are phased out, pollution is cut at source.

Next-Steps for Ocean Community

• Tracking EU/Ocean Pact implementation via the “Ocean Pact Scoreboard” or similar mechanisms. Regular reports and metrics will likely be published, identifying which states are moving faster, where gaps are.

  
  

• Partnering with coastal and community stakeholders to ensure that outermost regions, small-scale fishers, island communities are effectively included. This strengthens legitimacy and effectiveness.

  
  

• Monitoring and campaigning for binding legislation: pushing for the Ocean Act by 2027 to include strong binding targets/enforcement. Also pushing within Member States for better implementation of existing legislation (e.g. Common Fisheries Policy, Nature Directives).

  
  

• Focus on science, innovation & data tools: support for observation networks, AI, digital twins, improving ocean literacy, to ensure decisions are evidence-based.

  
  

• Transparency & public engagement: ensuring that ocean policy is not just decided in Brussels but is visible to citizens, local communities, and that implementation is held accountable.

One World, One Ocean, One Community.