How Infrastructure Reform Can Prioritize Ocean Climate Action April 26, 2021, 9:01 am Getty/Mario Tama A woman rides on a tour boat as a container ship is offloaded at the Port of Los Angeles in Terminal Island, California, March 2020. Sam Hananel Ari Drennen Introduction and summary Now is the time to invest in the United States’ coastal communities and ocean. Historically, the ocean has been central to the U.S. conception of infrastructure; early cities were built in naturally sheltered bays or on the banks of tidal rivers to provide safe harbors for ships. 1 Today, ocean-based climate solutions have the potential to provide up to one-fifth of the reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions needed globally to limit the world’s temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, which scientists say is necessary in order to lower the risks associated with climate change.