Key points
- The global ocean economy is an important engine of growth. It has doubled in size over the past 25 years, reaching USD 2.6 trillion in gross value added (GVA) in 2020, and consistently outpacing the global industry average in real-term growth.
- However, investment in the sustainable ocean economy remains far below what is needed. By 2030, an estimated USD 550 billion will be needed per year – the latest data indicates just 2% of that was invested in 2023.
- Ocean finance is heavily dependent on official development assistance (ODA), which accounted for nearly half of tracked financing in 2023. At the same time, only 1.4% of total ODA went towards the sustainable ocean economy.
- Recent ODA cuts by major donors, including Germany, the US, the UK, Japan and France, risk slowing progress on the ocean economy, at a time when governments, investors and financial institutions face stagnant growth and rising inflation.
- Since 2010, the bulk of ocean finance has focused on maritime transport, fisheries and marine protection. Sectors aligned with decarbonisation and adaptation, like clean offshore energy and disaster preparedness, have received limited funding, although the share of ocean economy ODA classified as ‘sustainable’ is increasing.
- Investing in the sustainable ocean economy could avoid annual economic losses of USD 75-85 billion, while generating global benefits at a rate five times the value invested. It could also bring significant climate wins, including reducing the 2050 emissions gap by 35% on a 1.5°C pathway.
- Amid calls to scale up funding for oceans, filling the sustainable ocean funding gap will require a mix of financing types. International initiatives are helping build momentum around ocean-climate policy, expand blue economy funds and launch new financing commitments.
The ocean economy is a driver of global growth
The world’s oceans are central to global trade, food systems, biodiversity and climate regulation, while supporting the livelihoods of approximately three billion people.
Economic activities related to oceans are generally split into two concepts: The ‘ocean economy’ refers to all economic activities associated with the ocean. The sustainable ocean economy – or ‘blue economy’ – refers to economic activities that enable sustainable use of the ocean.
The global ocean economy has consistently outpaced the global industry average in real-term growth. It generated USD 2.6 trillion in gross value added (GVA)1GVA is the economic value of goods and services produced across sectors. in 2020,22020 is the latest year for which data is available. up from USD 1.3 trillion 25 years earlier, according to the OECD. More than three-quarters of its growth is concentrated in Asia and the Pacific. If the ocean were a country, it would be the fifth-largest economy.
The OECD estimates that the global ocean economy GVA will increase by 40% by 2050 from 2020 levels if the clean energy transition is accelerated, given expansion across the clean energy sector, transport and marine resources.3In the OECD’s Accelerated Transition Scenario. The GVA of offshore wind alone is expected to increase 21 times.
This projected growth reflects the significant role oceans play in climate mitigation and adaptation. Analysis has found that ocean-based climate solutions could lower the ‘emissions gap’ – the gap between where global greenhouse gas emissions are heading and where they need to be – by up to 35% on a 1.5°C pathway and up to 47% percent on a 2.0°C pathway.
However, significant investment is required in the sustainable ocean economy to realise these changes. Research published in 2020 found that USD 174.52 billion per year is needed to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14: Life Below Water. A more recent report from the Blue Bond Incubator estimated that, by 2030, USD 550 billion per year will need to be invested in the sustainable ocean economy on average, with a range of USD 383-717 billion. Just over half of these financing needs (56%) will come from Asia and the Pacific, and the financing gap will be particularly big for Small Island Developing States and low-income countries.
Another analysis, commissioned by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy in 2023, found that at least USD 1 trillion in additional finance is required by 2030 to scale mitigation efforts and mainstream ocean-climate solutions, with a further USD 2 trillion between 2030 and 2050.
Despite its economic role, the ocean is underfinanced
Despite its significant role in supporting livelihoods, climate regulation, and global trade and food security, the ocean has historically been underfinanced. From 2017 to 2023, SDG 14: Life Below Water was estimated to have received the second-lowest level of finance among SDGs, just above SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.
Over USD 100 trillion in investment is overseen by institutional investors such as pension funds, insurers and sovereign wealth funds in the OECD, but less than 0.1% of this – USD 69 billion – are publicly disclosed “blue” mandates. Similarly, ocean-related deals make up around 1% of the USD 1.57 trillion impact-investing market.
Marine ecosystems receive less than 9% of total investment in nature-based solutions. Funding for marine protected areas (MPAs) is less than USD 1 billion each year – in contrast, funding for protected land areas amounts to around USD 23 billion.
This lack of funding has made it difficult to meet international ocean targets. For example, while there has been a small improvement in the expansion of MPAs, they currently cover only around 10% of the ocean. Reaching the goal of 30% by 2030 will require an additional USD 8-11 billion per year.
Ocean finance flows have more than doubled in the last decade, with more than half coming from ODA
Ocean finance has grown over the last decade, driven by increasing recognition of oceans as both a climate priority and economic opportunity, with more actors showing interest in investing in the ocean economy.
- Total tracked ocean finance flows reached an estimated USD 9.18 billion in 2023, around 2.4 times higher than those recorded 10 years earlier (Figure 1)4Tracking ocean finance flows is difficult due to different and overlapping definitions of ocean conservation financing and opacity in funding agreements. This briefing primarily uses the following sources to estimate funding: Official development assistance (ODA) and private ocean financing estimates from the OECD online Data Platform on Development Finance for the Sustainable Ocean Economy collected via assessments and surveys; and philanthropic foundation and NGO non-foundational funding estimates from the Our Shared Seas Funding Trends 2025 report, collected via surveys. Private investment estimates reflect the OECD’s estimates of private investment mobilised through ODA.
- Official development assistance (ODA) accounted for the largest share of financing, representing around 55% of total flows
- This is followed by blended finance (21%), foundation funding (13%) and NGO non-foundation funding (11%)
- In the 10-year period between 2014 and 2023, ocean financing totalled an estimated USD 53.58 billion5Excluding NGO non-foundation finance, as this data was not available for all years.
- A jump in the number of funds investing in the blue economy, from 26 in 2015 to 164 in 2024, including a 10-fold increase in venture capital funds since 2018 (reaching 40 in 2025), reflects the growing interest in financing the ocean.
Despite growth – and despite not including all ocean finance flows – these estimates highlight a major gap between financing needs and current investment levels.6The USD 9.18 billion figure only includes ODA, private finance in the form of blended finance and foundation and NGO non-foundation funding. Other finance flows, including private finance, domestic public finance and other financial instruments, are not included. The USD 9.18 billion tracked in 2023 represents less than 2% of the USD 550 billion in annual investment needed according to the Blue Bond Incubator, leaving a financing gap of USD 540 billion per year.
Figure 1
The International Development Association, Japan and Germany are the top providers of sustainable ocean economy ODA
As of 2023, the top providers of sustainable ocean economy ODA finance since 2010 include multilateral institutions, such as the International Development Association (IDA, part of the World Bank), EU institutions, and the Asian Development Bank, as well as national donors such as Japan, Germany, and France, according to the OECD (Figure 2).
Figure 2
A 2024 progress report by the High Level Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy outlined Ocean Panel members Canada, Australia and the UK as leaders in bilateral funding.
Development banks provide a significant amount of ocean financing, for example:
- The World Bank’s blue economy portfolio, covering sustainable fisheries, coastal ecosystem management and the circular economy among other areas, exceeded USD 11.1 billion in the 2025 financial year.
- European Investment Bank (EIB) lending to the sustainable blue economy amounted to EUR 12.9 billion (USD 15.0 billion) between 2021 and 2025, leveraging EUR 66 billion (USD 76.8 billion) of investments.
- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Action Plan for Healthy Oceans and Sustainable Blue Economies allocated USD 3.8 billion to projects between 2019-2024, with an initial aim of allocating USD 5 billion by 2024.
- The Clean Oceans Initiative, set up in 2018 by the EIB, alongside the German development bank KfW Group and the Agence Française de Développement, provided EUR 4 billion in financing to the public and private sectors for projects that reduce the discharge of plastics into the ocean. In 2025, it renewed its ambition to provide an additional EUR 3 billion by 2030.
- The Inter-American Development Bank has supported ocean financing via debt-for-sustainability swaps, most recently supporting The Nature Conservancy’s Nature Bonds Program with a USD 300 million project for marine conservation in The Bahamas.
Ocean conferences and international fora have served as catalysts for action, leading to significant financing commitments. Since 2014, the Our Ocean Conference has mobilised approximately USD 169 billion from over 2,900 commitments. The 2025 Blue Economy and Finance Forum mobilised EUR 8.7 billion (USD 10.1 billion), of which EUR 4 billion (USD 4.6 billion) came from public financial institutions.
The Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), which launched at COP28 in Dubai, is expected to mobilise USD 500 million in climate and resilience financing for Pacific Island countries. It is the first Pacific-led, owned and managed regional resilience financing facility and aims to support climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction and resilient infrastructure across the region.
Additionally, multilateral climate funds such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Adaptation Fund (AF) have the potential to contribute to ocean finance. However, estimates from The Economist in 2022 indicate that less than 2% and only 0.7% of financing from the GCF and GEF, respectively, went towards projects targeting ocean action.
A decline in ODA suggests that ocean finance may be at risk
Despite growing interest in oceans, sustainable ocean economy ODA comprised just 1.4% of total ODA in 2023.
A sharp 23% decline in overall ODA between 2024 and 2025 due to fiscal and political pressure suggests that ocean financing will decline too. Over 95% of this decline is due to cuts from Germany, the US, UK, Japan and France. The OECD projects further cuts in ODA in 2026, even before accounting for pressure from the crisis in the Middle East.
Ocean finance is concentrated in a few sectors, with sustainable finance a small – but growing – share
Zero Carbon Analytics calculations show that the majority of ocean financing since 2010 has been concentrated towards maritime transport, fisheries and marine protection (Figure 3). Priorities vary depending on the type of finance:
- Sustainable ocean economy ODA has primarily supported maritime transport, which accounted for 29% of this type of financing (USD 7.3 billion), followed by marine protection (28%, USD 7.1 billion) and fisheries (20%, USD 5.1 billion).
- The biggest share of private investment went towards water supply and sanitation (45%), followed by maritime transport (24%) and water administration (10%).
- For foundation funding, 26% went towards science, 21% towards protected areas and habitat protection, and 20% towards fisheries and aquaculture.
Figure 3
Sectors closely linked to decarbonisation and climate resilience only received a small share of total investments from sustainable ocean economy ODA and private investment over the period. For example, disaster preparedness accounted for 8% of sustainable ocean economy ODA, and offshore energy for just 2% of both sustainable ocean economy ODA and private investment.
However, ocean financing ODA did become increasingly aligned with sustainability goals over the period. The share of ocean economy ODA classified as ‘sustainable’ increased substantially between 2013 and 2023, rising from 42% to 85% (Figure 4). According to OECD data, the vast majority of sustainable ocean economy ODA went towards marine pollution (SDG target 14.1) in 2023.7 Last available data.
Figure 4
Our Shared Seas reported that the ocean-climate nexus is a big and growing target for foundation funding. The amount of foundation funding going towards the ocean-climate nexus increased ten-fold between 2015 and 2024, from approximately USD 24 million to USD 238 million, with 2024 funding focused on blue carbon, offshore wind and shipping decarbonisation.
Investing in the ocean-climate nexus can generate benefits and avoid the cost of inaction
Better alignment between ocean and climate finance flows is crucial to support climate adaptation and mitigation. The protection and restoration of coastal and ocean ecosystems are key adaptation strategies that improve the resilience of ecosystems, people and assets.
Investing in ocean mitigation will also help prevent serious economic damage. A recent study found that incorporating impacts to oceans nearly doubles the economic damage caused by each tonne of CO2 emitted – known as the social cost of carbon (SCC) – with impacts on coral reefs, fisheries, mangroves, mariculture and seaports driving up these costs.
A 2025 report by Systemiq estimated the cost of inaction on ocean protection at around USD 75-85 billion every year.8This likely underestimates the true value at risk, primarily because of the inherent non-economic value oceans provide, and because climate risk is not linear. The report found that:
- The continued unsustainable management of fisheries could cost businesses USD 53–83 billion in forgone profits globally.
- Banning bottom trawling across offshore UK MPAs could generate up to GBP 3.5 billion (USD 4.7 billion) in net value for the UK economy over 20 years.
- Coastal wetlands provide storm-related protection that is estimated to avoid thousands of additional fatalities and USD 447 billion in annual property damages.
Additionally, around two-thirds of all listed companies and their investors risk USD 8.4 trillion in assets and revenue losses by 2035 if they continue on a business-as-usual trajectory for ocean practices, according to the WWF. If action is taken, this could be reduced by around 40% to USD 3.3 trillion.
Investment in the ocean is likely to reap economic benefits. Each dollar invested in ocean actions is estimated to yield at least five dollars in global benefits by 2050, according to the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.
Specifically, an investment of USD 2-3.7 trillion globally between 2020 and 2050, across mangrove conservation and restoration, offshore wind scale-up, decarbonisation of international shipping and increased sustainable ocean-based protein production, could generate USD 8.2-22.8 trillion in net benefits, representing a return on investment of 450% to 615%. Investment in ocean protection could unlock USD 3.6 trillion in revenues in the global tourism sector alone.
Funding gaps and opportunities in sustainable ocean finance
Filling the sustainable ocean funding gap will require a mix of financing types in different sectors. Governments, development banks, the private sector and other financial actors could all see significant payoffs from expanding funding flows to oceans.
Recent international initiatives are helping build momentum around ocean-climate action, such as the Blue NDC Challenge launched by Brazil and France ahead of COP30 to help countries integrate ocean-based climate solutions into national climate plans. At the 2025 summit in Belém, the Ocean Taskforce focused on providing technical support and delivering ocean commitments.
Some sectors, such as offshore wind, already have access to significant sources of funding through commercial finance and capital markets. Others, like marine conservation and restoration, generate significant public benefits but limited private returns, meaning they require rapid expansion of public investment and innovative approaches to mobilise the necessary finance.
There is a call to scale up funding from other sources, including private sources and new and innovative mechanisms such as debt-for-sustainability swaps, blue bonds, blended finance, and insurance and risk financing. For example, the Blue bond market has grown to around USD 9 billion issued over the five years to 2023, although this represents a very small share of the cumulative USD 4.2 trillion issuance of green and other sustainability bonds.
National governments can mobilise private investment in ocean-related sectors by deploying blended finance structures that combine public concessional capital with private finance to reduce risk. For example, the One Ocean Finance mechanism, launched in 2025, aims to mobilise billions in public-private financing for oceans.
Further ocean funding could be mobilised through emerging international climate finance mechanisms and commitments, including the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG), the operationalisation of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), and ongoing work under the Global Goal on Adaptation framework.
