He is also interested in transdisciplinary research, collaborating with scientists and engineers across a broad range of fields to solve problems in the marine ecosystem and society.

He is currently a Distinguished Professor at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and executive director of the Coral Research and Development Accelerator Platform.

In 2011 Duarte took the role of inaugural director, and Winthrop Professor, at the UWA Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia.

On October 27, 2021, Prof. Duarte has been appointed Academic with the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences for his seminal contributions to further understanding marine ecosystems and their responses to global change.

His research in the ecology and biogeochemistry of seagrass meadows and other vegetated coastal systems eventually lead – in collaboration with different UN agencies - to the development of “Blue carbon” strategies to mitigate climate change.