This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 13 and SDG 14.
Submission status: Open
Submission deadline: 24 June 2027
Growing human reliance on marine resources has disrupted marine ecosystems, with ocean acidification emerging as a critical threat to many of these ecosystems and the resources they provide. As a direct result of human CO2 emissions, ocean acidification amplifies the impacts of both climate change and other human stressors, forming a “human activities-ocean acidification-climate change” negative cycle.
As the Earth’s largest carbon sink, the ocean has absorbed massive amounts of anthropogenic CO₂ since the Industrial Revolution. As this CO₂ dissolves into the surface ocean, it lowers pH and carbonate saturation states (a chemical phenomenon termed ocean acidification) which, in turn, causes harm to many marine species and ocean processes. Such widespread damage to marine ecosystems can reduce the services they provide by triggering fishery losses, disrupting climate regulation, and driving biodiversity decline.
Ocean acidification and climate change reinforce each other: warming seawater reduces the ocean’s ability to absorb CO₂ absorption, while acidification can increase organism sensitivity to temperature rise and other stressors. This interaction ultimately threatens marine health and ocean-dependent human societies globally. Moreover, local and regional solutions are needed; systematic research is urgent. This special collection in npj Ocean Sustainability focuses on ocean acidification, exploring its drivers and consequences, and synthesizing global advances in emission reduction, ecological restoration, and policy to break the negative cycle.
This collection welcomes the following research directions:
- Research on the two-way feedback mechanisms and driving factors between ocean acidification and other climate change, or human-induced, stressors.
- Marine ecological responses and biological adaptation mechanisms under the combined effects of ocean acidification and climate change.
- Research and practice of mitigation, adaptation, and ecological restoration technologies that build resilience against the impacts of ocean acidification and climate change.
- Global collaborative governance, policy formulation, and socio-economic impacts in addressing ocean acidification and climate change.
npj Ocean Sustainability, 24 September 2026. More information.
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