Earth Day has always been a moment for reflection. But 2026 has it feeling more like a deadline.

For decades, climate change was framed as a future risk – something to mitigate, model, or manage over time. However, today the data is telling us a different story. We’re no longer just preparing for impact – we’re living in it.

The maritime industry has long understood that information – reliable, timely, and actionable data – is the foundation of safe and efficient operations. What is less well understood is that the same principle now applies to something far larger than any single port call or quarterly emissions report: the ocean itself.

Covering 71% of the earth’s surface and carrying 90% of global trade, the ocean is both the industry’s main medium and its most pressing operational concern. And obtaining accurate information on how it is changing is becoming increasingly difficult at a pace that the industry’s current planning cycles have yet to account for.

In March 2026, research published in the international science journal Nature found that ocean levels have been systematically underestimated due to inaccurate modelling.

In parts of the global south – including south-east Asia and the Indo-Pacific – sea levels may be as much as 100 to 150 centimetres higher than previously understood. That same month, scientists concluded that if the Thwaites Glacier – a Florida-sized body of ice in West Antarctica – breaks apart entirely, it could push global sea levels up by more than 60 centimetres over the coming decades.

This could place cities like Bangkok, Shanghai, Lagos, Tokyo, and New Orleans – alongside their ports, logistics corridors, terminal investments, and supply chain services – at significant risk.

In April 2026, new research confirmed that the Atlantic meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) – the system of ocean currents that regulates Europe’s climate, stabilises the North Atlantic, and governs the weather patterns of some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes – is now significantly more likely to collapse than previously thought.

A concurrent study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research found that an AMOC collapse could flip the Southern Ocean from a carbon sink into a carbon source, releasing stored CO2 and compounding the warming already in motion. Johan Rockström, PIK Director and co-author, warns that the more CO2 in the atmosphere at the point of shutdown, the higher the likelihood of additional warming. Every tonne avoided between now and that threshold matters.

Sjoerd de Jager, Managing Director of PortXchange

The ocean absorbs approximately 30% of the carbon dioxide that human activity produces each year. In doing so, it moderates atmospheric warming – at a compounding biological cost through acidification, rising water temperatures, and disrupted marine food chains. The health of the ocean and the pace of decarbonisation are the same conversation, but still happening across different industries.

Coastal infrastructure – ports included – is confronted by an accelerating threat. And yet, much of our institutional response still operates under outdated assumptions.

The impact of climate change is already visible across maritime operations. Excessive heat pushes the Mediterranean season into autumn and spring; receding sea ice in Arctic passages is opening routes that were previously inaccessible – and diminishing the ecosystems in the process.

For commercial shipping, ports built to current tidal ranges and draught tolerances must begin replanning their infrastructure on projections that are only revised upward. Berths, quays, and access channels designed for today’s conditions may require costly redesign within the same planning horizon as a vessel’s working life.

Armed disputes, as well, impose an environmental cost on marine ecosystems – a threat that is poorly captured by standard emissions reporting. Rerouting around compromised straits and blockaded ports appears as increased fuel burn and elevated Scope 3 emissions under the EU ETS.

The industry ends up bearing, in its carbon ledger, a portion of the environmental price of instability which it did not create. Shipwrecks from the Second World War are still releasing petroleum into surrounding waters more than eighty years after they sank – a reminder that the ocean’s exposure to human decisions is measured in generations, not reporting cycles.

This is the uncomfortable truth: the pace of environmental change has outstripped the pace of institutional response. And one of the most persistent barriers to meaningful progress is not a lack of ambition, but a lack of clarity.

Across the maritime sector, emissions data remains fragmented, inconsistent, and often retrospective. Decisions are made on partial visibility. Progress is measured in estimates rather than evidence. We would not accept this level of uncertainty in financial reporting. Yet for environmental impact – arguably the defining operational issue of our time – it has been tolerated.

The ocean is not a backdrop to this industry – it is the industry. When the science tells us the systems that regulate it are weakening faster than we thought, that is not an environmental story. It is an operational one. And operational problems require operational responses – starting with knowing exactly what you are emitting, and why.

Ports that have invested in real-time emissions intelligence are already demonstrating that the gap between ambition and action is a gap of visibility, not will. When a port can accurately calculate its carbon footprint, it can identify where the greatest reductions are achievable and invest accordingly.

When it can implement Just-in-Time port call coordination, it eliminates idle waiting times that generate fuel burn and emissions for no operational purpose. When it can benchmark its performance against industry standards and regulatory frameworks, it can defend its progress to investors, regulators, and the communities it serves.

Tools like EmissionInsider were built on a simple premise: that better data enables better decisions. By allowing ports to monitor and analyse emissions in real time, they can identify hotspots, test interventions, and adapt quickly – rather than waiting months for static reports. Because you cannot reduce what you cannot see.

Earth Day 2026’s theme, “Our Power, Our Planet,” is a reminder that agency can exist only if it translates into real action. We have spent years building awareness, and that work matters. But awareness without accountability becomes just another form of delay.

The ports that succeed in the coming decades will not be those that react best – but those that anticipate, measure, and adapt fastest. Sustainability cannot be treated as a side agenda or a future commitment. It must be embedded in day-to-day decision-making at every level of an organisation.

Every Earth Day, we announce intentions. This year the science is asking us for something harder. It is asking us to measure honestly, report transparently, and act on what the data shows – even when it is uncomfortable. That is what this industry is capable of. The question is whether it chooses to be.

The window for gradual adjustment is closing. What remains is a narrowing opportunity to act decisively. The encouraging reality is that many of the solutions already exist – data, technology, and expertise are not the limiting factors. But what is required now is the will to implement them at scale, and the courage to move faster than what feels comfortable.
This is a call not for more ambition, but for immediate execution.

• For port authorities: make emissions visibility a baseline, not a bonus. If you do not have real-time insight into your footprint, you are already behind
• For policymakers: set clearer standards and enforce them consistently. The industry does not need more signals – it needs certainty.
• For industry leaders: stop waiting for perfect conditions. They will not come. Progress will be uneven, imperfect, and at times uncomfortable – but it must start now.

The ocean is under compounding pain – from a changing climate, from conflict, from the accumulated weight of decades of insufficient action. The maritime industry, which exists only because of the ocean and the goods moving upon it, carries the greatest exposure to those pressures – and the most meaningful capacity to respond to them.

Because the defining question of this decade is not whether we understood the risks. It is whether we acted while there was still time to change the outcome.
Source: By Sjoerd de Jager, CEO of PortXchange