Bonds to Finance the Sustainable blue economy: A practitioner’s guide
Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Capital Market Association (ICMA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) | 2023 | This guidance provides market particpants with clear criteria, practices and examples for ”blue bond” lending and issuances. Gathering input from the financial markets, ocean industry and global institutions, it provides information on the key components involved in launching a credible “blue bond,” how to evaluate the environmental impact of “blue bond” investments; and the steps needed to facilitate transactions that preserve the integrity of the market.
Generating Finance for Blue Economy Transition
Narula, Spalding, Thiele, Dyer, Pouponneau and Chauhan | 2023 | This policy briefing explores how the G20 can catalyse financing for Blue Economy transition by promoting targeted financial instruments such as debt-for-nature swaps, blue bonds and loans, conservation outcome-based financing, and parametric insurance. Key recommendations include adopting robust standards and frameworks; strengthening oversight; eliminating regressive subsidies; deploying innovative financial instruments; implementing cohesive policies and coordinated responses; increasing public investment; de-risking investments; incentivising private finance, and increasing partnerships.
Financing the Blue Economy in Asia
Tameo Impact Fund Solutions and Sasakawa Peace Foundation | 2023 | This report aims to synthesize knowledge about successful labeled blue issuances and qualifying blue projects in the Asian region, with a special focus on gender lens investing to address gaps in equity and equality within the blue economy.
Unlocking the potential of ocean-related data to develop insightful blue metrics for financial institutions
WWF, Green Digital Finance Alliance and Copenhagen Business School | 2023 | This report on blue metrics demonstrates that ocean-related data can be further integrated to assess the environmental impact of investments exposed to marine ecosystems and used to inform financial decisions and practices. It is a result of the Making Oceans Count Initiative, which aims to have material marine ecosystem-related risks and opportunities better accounted for by key actors within the Nordic financial sector. The initiative demonstrates that more can be done to assess ocean-related risks and impacts, including geolocated exposure to sensitive marine areas, by combining environmental data, with geolocated asset-level data, pressure estimation data and financial ownership data.
Investor Report: An Ocean of Opportunities
European Commission | 2023 | This investor report provides investors with an overview of investment activities and opportunities in the EU blue economy. It also features the key innovative technologies and a sample of investment-ready companies across 10 sectors of the sustainable blue economy from the BlueInvest pipeline.
High-Quality Blue Carbon Principles and Guidance
Conservation International, Friends of Ocean Action, WEF, ORRAA, SalesForce, The Nature Conservancy and Meridian Institute | 2022 | Coastal ecosystems like mangrove forests, tidal marshes, and seagrass meadows sequester and store vast amounts of carbon and are now being recognized for their role in mitigating climate change. Growing demand for blue carbon credits and the accompanying surge of interest in blue carbon have attracted many new actors into this space. This publication sets principles and guidelines that outline what high-quality blue carbon projects and credit development mean.
Policy Briefing: Financing the Sustainable Blue Economy
WWF and UNEP FI | 2022 | In light of the G20 that took place in Indonesia in November 2022, Louise Heaps (WWF), Dennis Fritsch and Karla Martínez Toral (UNEP FI) have collaborated on a policy briefing addressed to public actors that lists a series of policy recommendations to support the transition towards a sustainable blue economy.
Guidelines for Blue Finance
IFC | 2022 | This document identifies eligible blue project categories to guide IFC’s investments to support the blue economy, in line with the Green Bond Principles and Green Loan Principles. The market has been seeking guidance on project eligibility criteria, translating general Blue Economy Financing Principles, such as the Sustainable Blue Economy Principles and the Sustainable Ocean
Principles, towards guidelines for blue bond issuances and blue lending.
Blue Growth and Blue Justice
Bennet et al., UBCOceans| 2020 | This paper reviews past evidence of the social injustices that can result from ocean-based development and highlights 10 injustices that can be produced by blue growth. It concludes that a commitment to ‘blue justice’ – including recognitional, procedural, and distributional concerns – needs to be at the core of the blue growth agenda.
Towards a sustainable and equitable blue economy
Bennet et al., Nature Sustainability| 2019 | The global rush to develop the ‘blue economy’ risks harming both the marine environment and human wellbeing. Bold policies and actions are urgently needed. This paper identifies five priorities to chart a course towards an environmentally sustainable and socially equitable blue economy.
Value at Risk
WWF| 2021 | This ground breaking research shows that a business-as-usual trajectory entails great risk to our economies, with a cost potentially reaching up to US$8.4 trillion over the next 15 years. But the ocean also has a great capacity to regenerate. If we take immediate action, we can reduce this damage to US$3.3 trillion. By repairing damage to the ocean, we revive one of the world’s greatest resources and one of the world’s largest carbon sinks.
Blueprint for a Climate-Smart Ocean to Meet 1.5°C
United Nations Global Compact| 2021 |This Blueprint lays out six key steps to unlock a climate-smart ocean to meet 1.5°C, from innovative ocean management and human-centred policies, to harnessing blue finance and leveraging the ocean-climate nexus in political processes. The blueprint is the outcome of the UN Global Compact Blue Road to COP 26 multi-stakeholder workstream.
Sovereign Blue Bonds: Quick Start Guide
ADB| 2021 | ADB published a comprehensive guide to developing green bonds that is also suitable for blue bonds. This quick start guide highlights frequently asked questions and provides a summarized look at pre-feasibility and first steps to develop a sovereign blue bond.
Proposing a regulatory-driven blue finance mechanism for blue economy development
ADBInstitute | 2020 | This paper provides a conceptual understanding of the concept of blue finance and explores the potential of using legal and institutional mechanisms to increase investment in ocean development programs.
Financing a sustainable ocean economy
Sumaila et al. | 2021 | This paper identifies the key barriers to financing a sustainable ocean economy and suggests how to mitigate them, to incentivize the kind of public and private investments needed for topnotch science and management in support of a sustainable blue economy.
Blueprint for a living planet: Four Principles for Integrated Ocean-Climate Strategies
WWF| 2021 | This report proposes four principles to guide integrated ocean and climate action to strengthen the mitigation, adaptation and resilience potential of marine and coastal ecosystems – and everything and everyone that depends on them. It offers practical guidance to countries and partners on how to effectively address ocean and climate ambition and action in a synergistic manner.
The Second World Ocean Assessment
UN | 2021 | The Second World Ocean Assessment is the major output of the second cycle of the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the States of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects. It is the newest outcome of the only integrated assessment of the world’s ocean at the global level covering environmental, economic and social aspects.
Unpacking the UNFCCC Global Stocktake for Ocean-Climate Action
IUCN | 2021 | This paper provides a broader understanding of the crucial interlinkages of the whole ocean as part of the climate system and the role of ocean, coastal and marine Nature-based Solutions as part of The Global Stocktake set out by the Paris Agreement. It explores the Global Stocktake as an avenue for information and raising the ambition of countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions in relation to ocean ecosystems and climate change.
New approach for a sustainable blue economy in the EU
EU | 2021 | The European Green Deal and the Recovery Plan for Europe will define the European economy for many years, or even decades. It is hence fundamental that the EU’s blue economy meets the EU’s environmental and climate objectives. To fully embed the blue economy into the Green Deal and the recovery strategy, the Commission has adopted a new approach for a sustainable blue economy, covering oceans, seas and coasts in the EU.
Sustainability criteria for the blue economy
EU | 2021 | The need to develop and promote sustainable blue economy activities has become critical. It is necessary to develop a common understanding of the activities and practices that contribute to it at international level. This study is a contribution towards the establishment of such a common understanding by developing a set of criteria to assess the sustainability of blue economy activities.
Ocean Finance: Financing the Transition to a Sustainable Ocean Economy
High Level Panel for A Sustainable Ocean Economy | 2020 | Overview of the current ocean economy and the multiple stressors and how ocean finance can aid in changing this trajectory. Explains the barriers and opportunities in financing and how more investment is needed to transition to a sustainable ocean economy.
Unsustainable Finance in the Blue Economy: Where Does the Money Come From?
EU | 2020 | How to shift investment towards sustainable oceans this report includes insights and recommendations for policymakers and investors. Published by the European Commission, this is a must-read for investors dealing with the blue economy.
Investors and the Blue Economy
Fritsch, D | 2020 | This high-impact research project measures investor interest in ocean-related investments, and opportunities around the sustainable Blue Economy. Surveying leading global investors on the ‘investability’ of ocean-related sectors, the research provides unique insight into the present and future state of investor action on SDG 14.
The EU Blue Economy Report 2020
European Commission | 2020 | The report highlights the need to preserve marine ecosystems to optimise potential benefits of ecosystem services and marine and maritime economic sectors.
The Ocean Finance Handbook
Friends of Ocean Action | 2020 | A guide that seeks to demystify the investment landscape of the sustainable blue economy.
A sustainable Ocean Economy in 2030: Opportunities and Challenges
The Economist Group | 2020 | In this report, The Economist Group’s World Ocean Initiative assesses the challenges facing key sectors in the ocean economy including seafood, shipping, tourism and renewable energy.
The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020
UN FAO | 2020 | This report provides technical insight and factual information on the fisheries & aquaculture sector, highlights major trends and emerging areas relevant to sustainable development.
Can Blue Bonds Finance a fish stock recovery?
Planet Tracker | 2020 | It is clear that ocean fishing is on an unsustainable course of rising demand and falling supply but could recover if the reset button is pushed. Restrictions on catch, along with a proper debt financing vehicle, would assist in creating a financially viable transition scenario to sustainable oceans. A blue bond provides a more profitable route than the business-as-usual scenario, over the long-term.
