Scaling sustainable blue economies and tackling plastic pollution

Launched in 2014 by then U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the annual Our Ocean Conference brings together cross-sector leaders and partners to address a range of challenges facing the ocean. Over the past decade, participants have made more than 2,600 commitments worth approximately $141 billion. Our team participated in several events and organized a discussion on financing sustainable solutions for the blue economy — you can explore some of the key takeaways from that conversation below.?

And we’re also gearing up for Earth Day next week. This year's theme is Planet vs. Plastics. With less than 10% of plastics recycled, and a garbage truck worth of plastics entering the ocean every minute, we are currently on pace to have more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. Several Collective members are tackling this issue from different angles, and we've highlighted the work of four of these companies in the second half of this month’s update.

We hope you have a terrific Earth Day, take some time to explore and appreciate nature, and consider climate actions you can incorporate into your daily habits.

The Blue Climate Collective

Scaling Finance for the Blue Economy

At Our Ocean Conference , we joined the Systemiq Ltd. team to host a conversation on “Financing Sustainable Solutions for the Blue Economy.” The discussion featured investors, policymakers, and community leaders from Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance , Palau, the Global Fund for Coral Reefs , and HSBC who shared actionable insights on scaling finance for marine protection, ocean-based climate solutions, the development of regenerative and sustainable blue economy sectors, and climate-resilient economic growth.

Finance remains critical to transforming climate ambition into action. Leaders discussed how to catalyze blended capital through a variety of financial and insurance instruments, including blue bonds, carbon credits, development finance, and equity investments. Blue bonds in particular have seen significant growth and offer even greater potential to mobilize additional financial resources via use of proceeds bonds, sustainability-linked bonds, and debt-for-nature swaps.

One common challenge continues to be the lack of a pipeline of "investable opportunities." On one side are major financial institutions with hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars of capital to deploy, and on the other side are companies and communities looking for smaller check sizes to fund their development.

To bridge this gap, the panel discussed the critical importance of partnerships to both scale up the size of investment opportunities and expand the project pipeline. Ambassador Ilana Seid of Palau, Karen Sack of ORRAA, and Dale Galvin of Pegasus Capital all outlined how governments, multilateral development banks (MDBs), and development finance institutions (DFIs), working together with private financial institutions, can play a role in various types of capital outlays, helping to mainstream markets and address pipeline bottlenecks.

This year’s Our Ocean Conference brought together more than 3,000 delegates who made more than 460 new commitments worth an estimated $11 billion.

The panel emphasized the ongoing need to consider the vast social returns on investments in the blue economy, which deliver lasting benefits to both people and nature. Increasing these returns will require the embrace of blended patient capital from public, private, and philanthropic sources across the capital stack.

Advancing Innovative Solutions to Tackle Plastics

Plastic production has multiplied 20x over the past 50 years and will continue to expand, harming marine life and human health alike. Several members of the Blue Climate Collective are addressing this challenge and seeking alternatives to traditional plastics. From embracing biopolymers to replace plastics packaging, to ship coatings that both increase fuel efficiency and reduce microplastics, here are four members stemming the tide of plastic pollution:

• Cruz Foam : Founded in 2017, this materials technology company in Santa Cruz, California is harnessing naturally sourced biopolymers to remove single-use plastics from supply chains. Cruz Foam was recently recognized by Fast Company as part of the annual Most Innovative Companies 2024.
• Finsulate BV : Headquartered in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, Finsulate is addressing microplastics from ship paint while also reducing friction caused by marine organisms growing on vessels. Their ship coating mimics sea urchins’ spines and creates a physical barrier to biofouling, and doesn't release pollutants into the water.
• Evoware : Based in Jakarta, Indonesia, Evoware offers a range of replacements for single-use plastics, including plastic-free bags and mailing supplies made from cassava and disposable straws made from rice.?
• LOLIWARE Inc. : With their team in San Francisco, California Loliware started with a seaweed-based straw and has expanded its SEA Tech? into a line of resins to replace plastic at scale. With a blend of seaweed and minerals, their materials are compatible with the standard plastic machinery and decompose at the same rate as a banana peel.

As critical negotiations take place next week to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, we hope you'll join Only One's campaign for a strong Global Plastics Treaty and support the public and private sector movement to curb single-use plastics and ocean-bound waste.

For the ocean,

The Blue Climate Collective