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The EU-27 is surrounded by seas and oceans: hence the need to explore the so-called blue economy. Despite its huge value, this kind of economic activity faces a significant investment gap, including perceived risks, uncertain profit margins and regulatory burden. In order to create a resilient and inclusive ocean economy’s options, stakeholders must recognize the ocean as a high-growth investment sector; only 9 % of total global investment is used in marine environment.
Background
The term ‘blue economy’ broadly relates to a sustainable ocean economy: i.e. economic activities associated with the ocean, seas and coastal regions, which allow the use of available resources while preserving the health of the ocean ecosystem.
The ocean economy supports millions and underpins some of the world’s most critical industries. From maritime shipping, which carries 80% of global trade, to the undersea fiber-optic cables that transmit 95% of international data, the ocean is deeply embedded in socio-economic activities. According to some projections, ocean-based industries could generate more than $3 trillion annually by 2030. The growth of ocean-based economic activities has gathered pace over the past 50 years and the ocean economy is now estimated to be worth approximately $1.5 trillion, with significant further growth expected particularly in offshore wind, marine aquaculture and fish processing.
Developing future ocean-related economic activities is guided by sustainable considerations: thus, although “blue economy” has become a most widely used term, its concept differs across national political economies. Thus, in financial circles, the term has largely focused on the decarbonisation of existing ocean economy activities as the world transitions to net zero greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Paris Agreement temperature targets. Other definitions are wider, encompassing the sustainable use of resources for socioeconomic benefit, including supporting jobs and livelihoods, promoting poverty reduction, ‘stewardship’ of the ocean’s resources, and marine education and research. Besides, more ambitious and holistic view have been developed integrating blue economy with environmental sustainability, social equity, etc. providing for some “alternative terms”, such as ‘sustainable ocean economy’, ‘sustainable blue economy’ and more recently the “regenerative blue economy”
Source: https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/explainers/what-is-the-blue-economy/
Marine economy and environment
Seas and oceans are far more than just providing economic potentials: they are also human and the planet’s largest natural climate regulator, absorbing nearly 30% of carbon dioxide emissions, capturing 90% of excess heat, and storing 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere. And yet the ocean’s capacity to provide these vital services is now nearing a tipping point, argued the Science Advances in February 2024.
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk1189
Presently, the “ocean economy” presenting a unique opportunity for investing in sustainable “blue solutions” and unlocking profitable financial flows; it represents a multi-trillion-dollar investment frontier, spanning multiple sectors that depend on a healthy marine environment: renewable energy, coastal infrastructure, ports, maritime transport, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. As extreme weather events, rising sea levels and shifting coastlines increasingly disrupt coastal areas and key industries; this shortfall poses a grave threat to both climate resilience and long-term economic growth.
The next five years will be pivotal for the “ocean business”: two upcoming events – the United Nations Ocean Conference and the Blue Economy and Finance Forum in June – will provide investors, development banks and policymakers with a platform to advance innovative investment mechanisms, foster cross-sector partnerships and align financial strategies with the long-term vision of a thriving, sustainable ocean economy.
During the decade (2012-22) about $13 billion was invested in ocean sustainability, mostly from official development assistance and philanthropic sources. As WDF confirms, “this reflects the widespread perception that ocean-based ventures are more risk than reward, with investors frequently pointing to regulatory uncertainty, fragmented markets and a shortage of bankable projects”.
Source and citation from: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/05/the-business-case-for-a-sustainable-blue-economy/
However, these years provide for certain and even unprecedented risks, although coped with unmatched opportunities; i.e. by aligning capital flows with ocean regeneration, corporate entities can bring about the systemic change needed to build a resilient blue economy that protects marine ecosystems, empowers communities and provides broad-based prosperity for future generations.
Source and citation from an article published in Project Syndicate: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/05/the-business-case-for-a-sustainable-blue-economy/
SDGs for “blue economy”
One of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs is dedicated to the ocean: the SDG-14, ‘life below water’ aims to conserve and sustainably use the ocean, seas and marine resources. It sets out seven targets for a sustainable ocean economy by 2030. So far, progress towards reaching these goals has been limited: there have been some small improvements in the sustainability of fisheries and an expansion of marine protected areas (MPAS), although the latter cover only around 7.5% of the oceans. It has been estimated that an additional investment of about $8-11 bn is required to achieve the objective of creating MPAs that would cover 30% of the global marine’s territory by 2030.