Financing Ocean Innovation

Financing Ocean Innovation

The challenge

If the ocean were an economy, it would be the world’s seventh largest, worth US $24 trillion. This vast economic worth is at risk due to pollution, climate change and overfishing.

The action track

Identifying and developing a suite of investment solutions, taking into account the diverse nature of Ocean issues, that are built to cater for specific issues needs and create a collaborative and pre-competitive space for investors, Ocean experts and innovators to work together and identify, implement, scale up investable solutions that will restore Ocean health




Financial institutions


Technology innovators


Identify Ocean financing gaps and build a mechanism to address them

Mapped existing and emerging Ocean funds and investment tools, and ways to scale them up

Initiated conversations with key experts on how to scale up investment and highlight the economic opportunity

Convened meeting with entities engaged in Ocean risk

Identified and got received by in the role of the Friends of Ocean Action network in understanding and unblocking the financing landscape for ocean and work to be carried forward to 2020, as underpinning system for the remaining Action Tracks


Identify and develop key guiding investment frameworks that can unlock systemic change

Identify the most critical areas that are ripe for investable solutions

Identify the suite of asset classes and investment mechanisms specifically designed to the core topics of Ocean sustainable development to unlock financing particularly coming from the private sector

Produce a report that provides a clear understanding of Ocean related investment frameworks and finance approach in order to foster Ocean finance and risk-opportunity narrative

Ensure financing becomes the underscoring building block for the other topics and action tracks that the Friends of Ocean Action are working on


Launch and operationalise the targeted and diversified asset classes at the UN Ocean Conference

Establish the architecture of a pre-competitive platform

Launch new Ocean finance platform specifically looking at the tech space with diverse investment strategies and portfolio of supporters

Collaborate with key accelerators in the run up to the UN Ocean Conference in bringing to a global stage a suite of high impact tech solutions for Ocean

Showcase examples of return in investment and further potential financial and economic benefits from Ocean financing

Other action tracks