Sky Ocean Rescue aims to educate people about ocean health and inspire people to help reverse the damage done to our oceans and reduce the extreme amount of plastic waste that ends up in them.

The campaign starts on 24th January with two days of coverage on Sky News and TG24, which will show the magnitude of the issues affecting ocean health and the impact it is having on the world.

The Sky News team will report from different beaches around the world  and look at the colossal impact plastic has on the environment, marine life and the effect this has on the human food chain.

The coverage will also feature the documentary A Plastic Tide, which looks at the problem of single-use plastics polluting oceans.

Jeremy Darroch, Chief Executive of Sky, commented: "At Sky we want to make a difference to issues that really matter, particularly for our customers. We have, I believe, a strong history in using our voice to make an impact when it comes to environmental issues.

"The health of our oceans is in a dire state and we ignore it at our peril, so we are asking all our customers around Europe to help us to bring ocean health to the fore. We will put the full weight of Sky behind the campaign and I firmly believe together we can make a meaningful difference.”

HRH The Prince of Wales, a long term environmental campaigner, said: "I find it sobering to think that almost all the plastic ever produced is still here somewhere on the planet in one form or another and will remain here for centuries to come, possibly thousands of years.

"Sky's ocean plastics campaign will hopefully create further awareness of this incredibly serious issue."

Single-use, disposable product accounts for 40% of all plastic, which remain on the planet for years. 

As a company, Sky is dramatically reducing single-use plastics across its sites, starting by removing all single-use plastic water bottles, plastic straws, cups and micro beads in cleaning product in cooperation with the campaign.

The campaign follows Sky's six-year partnership with WWF and the successful campaign, Sky Rainforest Rescue.

Sky Rainforest Rescue increased 7.3 million people’s understanding of deforestation in the UK, kept one billion trees standing in Acre, Brazil, raised over £9million and inspired more than 1.5 million people to take action against climate change.

The impact allowed a range of conservation work in Acre, Brazil, to be supported and has given local people ways of making a sustainable living from the rainforest without cutting down trees.