Blue Economics aims to quantify the real cost of destructive fishing and develop new ways of directing capital at scale towards ocean protection and restoration. Blue Economics supports the delivery of Blue Marine’s domestic and international projects and pushes forward systemic change through thought leadership on innovative finance.
One element of our work has been developing biodiversity certificates , working closely with Blue Marine’s Solent Seascape team, whose initiative is a pilot for the developing Plan Vivo Nature standard – one of the first marine projects to produce biodiversity credits verified under this scheme. Biodiversity certificates represent a nature positive unit of biodiversity gain or conservation, much like carbon credits. We are working to develop a market around them, engaging with the private sector to re-frame the way it values nature, and drive home the true value of biodiversity. In 2024, we published ‘Credit where credit’s due: Identifying the core principles of a high-integrity biodiversity credit market’ and hosted a markets workshop with key private-sector stakeholders to discuss the most significant challenges facing the emerging nature market.
Additionally, Blue Economics is supporting our partners in Namibia, the Dutch Caribbean, and Barbados to better quantify the value of their marine environment and develop sustainable finance plans for their marine protected areas. To support this work further, together with Blue Science, Blue Economics is working on a concept around marine protected area (MPA) implementation bonds that will help secure financing for fully and highly protected MPAs aiming to achieve good management.
Elsewhere, the team is helping demonstrate the absurd economics of overfishing and in collaboration with Economics for the Environment consultants, produced reports on how to assess a ‘just transition’ to lower-impact gear, or away from fishing entirely.
