Side Event on the Global Ocean Energy Alliance at the UN Ocean Conference on 9 June 2025 in Nice, France

Side Event Date: Monday, 9th June 2025
Side Event Time: 10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. (Central European Time – CET)
Venue: UNOC3 Conference Venue, Blue Zone, Room 3, Port Lympia, Downtown Nice
Further information is available at: https://unoc3.gloea.org 

Organized under the umbrella of the UN Ocean Action Commitment 41820: https://sdgs.un.org/partnerships/global-ocean-energy-alliance-gloea-small-island-developing-states

Introduction

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the SIDS DOCK Secretariat, the Island Women Open Network (IWON) and the Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centres (GN-SEC) are co-organising the side event “Critical Services SIDS Need from the Ocean to Achieve SDGs 7, 9, 13 and 14 and to Strengthen Economic and Physical Resilience to Climate Change” on 9 June in conjunction with the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France. The event is supported by the Governments of Belize, Kingdom of Tonga, Republic of Seychelles, Tuvalu, Commonwealth of Dominica and Saint Lucia. 

Objective

The event takes stock of the UN Ocean Action Commitment No. 418201, which was submitted by the Small Island Developing States Dock (SIDSDOCK), the SIDS Sustainable Energy and Climate Resilience Organisation and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) as contribution to the UN Ocean Conference in 2017.  

Laudable progress has been achieved and in the meantime the partnership has resulted into the formation of the Global Ocean Energy Alliance (GLOEA) for small island developing states (SIDS) and coastal developing nations. The initiative is a concrete contribution to the implementation of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS), Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG7, SDG9, SDG 13 and SDG14, as well as the Paris Climate Agreement. 

The GLOEA receives support from various SIDS Heads of State and Government, Ministers and other High-Level Officials, and initial funding support from the Austrian Government. The GLOEA was formally launched on the margins of the UN Ocean Conference in Portugal, Lisbon in 2022.

During the event, some examples of the GLOEA Indicative Project Pipeline will be showcased and new public-private partnerships between the ocean energy industry and SIDS will be announced. All participating public and private partners will be encouraged to support the initiative. 

Background

Since the 26th UN Climate Conference in November 2021 (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, and the 2022 UN Ocean Conference, the preservation of the ocean health and the greening of marine and coastal industries have been acknowledged as important pillars of global climate mitigation and adaptation action. 

Moreover, most Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have adopted ambitious green and blue economy policies aiming at economic diversification, decoupling from fossil fuels and enhanced climate resilience.  Sustainable ocean energy as a nature-based solution can become an important enabler of the economic and clean energy transition of SIDS by complementing other variable renewables, the provision of grid auxiliary services, decarbonization of key industrial sectors and as an enabler for productive uses within the vast Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs).  

However, despite significant technological advances, cost reductions and ambitious roll-out plans in the Global North, so far SIDS and other lower-income countries have been unable to take advantage of these  technologies due to manifold barriers. The market readiness of these solutions varies and there are very limited platforms and financing instruments promoting the transfer of knowledge and technology to SIDS.   

For these reasons, SIDS DOCK and UNIDO launched the Global Ocean Energy Alliance (GLOEA), to accelerate the transfer of renewable ocean energy technologies to SIDS and Coastal Developing Nations. It offers a platform to connect SIDS with the emerging ocean energy industry in the Global North that seeks to test new solutions across diverse climates and facilitates access to blue-green financing and venture capital. It provides a maker- and marketspace and shared services, resources and intelligence to ocean energy market enablers, particularly governments, utilities and ocean energy entrepreneurs and industrials. 

The GLOEA is hosted by the SIDSDOCK Secretariat in Belmopan, Belize, with support from the Government of Belize, and is being rolled-out through a SIDS-SIDS and triangular approach building on the Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centres (GN-SEC), coordinated by UNIDO in partnership with the regional economic communities (RECs). Further information is available at: https://gloea.org/ and http://www.gn-sec.net