The emergence of a sustainable blue economy is threatened by over-extraction, habitat damage, pollution, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of billions of dollars of annual investment in the oceans is needed, but only $13 billion was invested by philanthropy and official development assistance in the last decade. To scale the blue economy, creating effective enabling conditions, boosting concessional support, and establishing platforms connecting project developers with partners in other markets will be key.
This brief analyzes the 16 closed transactions targeting SDG 14 (Life Below Water) recorded by the Convergence database, representing $2.5 billion in total committed financing. This brief also presents insights from interviews with key stakeholders.
