UNEP FI releases guide on blue financing for sustainable ocean recovery

United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) has released a new guidance on blue finance to help banks, insurers and investors take action on the transition of ocean sectors to a sustainable future.

A practical guide, titled Turning the Tide: How to finance a sustainable ocean recovery, represents a market-first practical toolkit for financial institutions to pivot their activities towards financing a sustainable blue economy.

Designed for banks, insurers and investors, the guidance outlines how to avoid and mitigate environmental and social risks and impacts, as well as highlighting opportunities, when providing capital to companies or projects within the blue economy.

Five key ocean sectors are explored, chosen for their established connection with private finance, including seafood, shipping, ports, coastal and marine tourism, and marine renewable energy – notably offshore wind.

Eric Usher, Head of UNEP FI, said: “Momentum is building as more banks, insurers and investors wake up to the realisation that their financial activities can have a sizeable impact on ocean health, creating a negative feedback loop for key ocean industries such as shipping, fishing, tourism and marine renewables.

“A new sustainable pathway for the blue economy is thus both an environmental and economic necessity. This critical new guidance provides a practical toolkit for financial institutions to understand their impact and discover how a new sustainable finance approach can help them identify key risks and opportunities in ocean-linked sectors”.

Accompanying the guidance is a set of easy-to-follow recommendations on how to approach financial activity in ocean sectors, allowing financial decision-makers to take immediate action.

Combined, the guidance and recommendations provide a road map with a detailed breakdown of which client activities to seek out as best practice, which activities to challenge, and which activities to avoid completely due to their damaging nature. 

The guidance leverages best practice based on input from over 50 pioneering institutions and experts, according to UNEP FI.

It supports the implementation of the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles, which are a keystone in the market for financing a sustainable blue economy, and represents a follow-up to the Rising Tide report, which mapped the ocean finance space and provided an entry point for financial institutions.