Developed economies around the world, built on the Industrial Revolution and the glut of fossil fuel consumption, are rightfully under mounting pressure to demonstrate leadership on climate action and reparations to address historical climate impacts and injustice.

These economies built their societies on fossil fuels and inadvertently found themselves at the helm of one of humankind’s biggest geo-engineering projects, fundamentally altering the Earth’s climate system with the release of carbon that had been locked away for hundreds of millions of years. This environmental manipulation has impacted every corner of our planet, every part of nature, with the poorest and least able often left to suffer the brunt of the impacts without the resources, infrastructure, or finance to cope.

For over 30 years, world leaders have come together to focus on tackling this issue through annual climate conferences, yet still fail to name, shame, and truly tackle the driving force behind the crisis, Big Oil.

The final agreement at the talks in Brazil last year – COP30 – notably failed to name or commit to phasing out oil, coal, or gas thanks to the lobbying of petrostates and oil barons, despite growing calls from many nations for stronger action.

Action will either be voluntary, manageable, and relatively affordable, or forced, chaotic, and unaffordable. Major reports from respected institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Economic Forum, and the United Nations consistently show that the financial costs and damages from climate inaction vastly outweigh planned investment costs of transitioning to a green economy.

Few now would deny human-driven climate change and the need for accelerated action to protect us all, except perhaps extremist administrations fixated on Making Pollution Great Again. These administrations fail to realise that a healthy economy and healthy people depend on a healthy, stable, and thriving environment. Whilst these nations may point the finger at the developing economies currently reliant on fossil fuels, that is in no way an excuse for inaction. Developed economies must show more leadership in action, light the pathway to the green economy, and forge ahead with the development of abundant, clean, and renewable energy that will power the future for us all.

The biodiversity crisis and the need for action to restore nature are the flipside of the coin of carbon emissions. We need developed economies to show leadership in restoring their wild spaces at scale, to both combat and better withstand the growing impacts of climate change. A healthy natural environment is a more resilient natural environment. As global leaders race to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030, this has never been in sharper focus.

This is possibly most important in our ocean, which absorbs most of the planet’s excess heat and CO2, leading to physical and biological changes that stress not only marine life but also coastal communities globally. Ocean acidification, deoxygenation, sea level rise and fiercer storms, species migration, food web collapses, decline in fisheries health, and overall habitat loss.

This is why ocean action must be central to both the climate and biodiversity fight to stabilise and reboot the natural environment we all rely on. We’re in a decade where decisive action is essential.