About
A sustainable blue economy unlocks multiple environmental, social and economic benefits and drives sustainable development. With a growing human population and increasing demand for resources, our connected ocean, coasts, and inland waters are facing a triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. These are closely interconnected and put the well-being of current and future generations in jeopardy. Countries are increasingly looking to develop their ocean economies whilst addressing this crisis and meeting interconnected targets such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the Global Biodiversity Framework, and the Paris Agreement.
With an annual economic value estimated at US$2.5 trillion, the ‘blue economy’ is equivalent to the world’s 7th largest economy.
A sustainable blue economy has the potential to overcome the disconnected way in which our oceans, coasts, and freshwater ecosystems are currently managed and to become a fundamental component in addressing the planet’s economic, societal, and ecological needs. A sustainable blue economy provides essential benefits for current and future generations; restores, protects and maintains diverse, productive and resilient ecosystems; and is based on clean technologies, renewable energy and circular material flows.
Why does it matter?
A healthy ocean is key to a sustainable future for both people and the planet. Harnessing the resources of our oceans, seas, and coastal ecosystems can go a long way toward meeting this demand, and it is imperative that we do so sustainably.
The rapid, unsustainable growth of ocean-related sectors is leading to environmental risks, eroding the ocean’s resource base, and creating regulatory, market, reputational, and physical risks for businesses, financial institutions, and their clients.
Developing countries and small island developing states face uniquely significant challenges, as many depend heavily on ocean-based resources and are overly exposed to the consequences of ocean and coastal degradation and climate change. Enhancing their access to science, policy advice and financing would allow them to better tap into the opportunities of a more sustainable blue economy, including more decent jobs, cleaner energy, improved food security and enhanced resilience, while contributing to the protection of the world’s ocean, coasts and inland waters. Addressing climate resilience is a foundational focus of a sustainable blue economy. Supporting policy coherence, nature-based solutions and area-based planning and management approaches are important ways to build this resilience.
There is a vast opportunity to move toward more circular approaches and help achieve the green energy transition while ensuring safeguards to protect and conserve the environment on which they rely.
What we do
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is assisting countries and stakeholders in navigating the path towards a sustainable blue economy. UNEP aims to help countries and businesses move to a sustainable, resilient and equitable blue economy in which economic activities that rely on the ocean do not harm it.
UNEP’s Sustainable Blue Economy Initiative aims to facilitate sustainable ocean-based economic, social and environmental benefits within the planetary boundaries of the ocean, coasts and inland waters. Engaging with countries, regional seas and many partners, it seeks to enhance decision-making, enabling conditions and capacities to develop and implement sustainable, climate-resilient and inclusive blue economy policies, strategies and solutions that reduce human impacts and support the sound use of marine and coastal ecosystems and their many services.
UNEP’s Sustainable Blue Economy transition framework provides a whole-of-government approach to governing human interactions across ocean, coastal, and inland water systems, facilitating the equitable sharing of economic and social benefits while protecting ecosystems from degradation and regenerating those that have already been degraded. Ecosystem integrity underpins the sustained delivery of economic and social benefits.
The Framework assists governments and decision-makers in developing their own plans for transitioning to a sustainable blue economy, based on understanding existing governance systems and how to enhance them. With partners, UNEP is assisting countries with ‘Rapid Readiness Assessment’ and building enabling actions for sustainable blue economy policy implementation, including the application of nature-based solutions such as blue carbon approaches. See two examples of rapid readiness assessments carried out in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat here: Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua and Barbuda.
UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) has developed guidance on the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles, which serve as a foundational keystone for investing in the ocean economy. Launched in 2018, they are the world’s first global guiding framework for banks, insurers and investors to finance a sustainable blue economy. They promote the implementation of SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and set out ocean-specific standards, allowing the financial industry to mainstream the sustainability of ocean-based sectors. The principles were developed by the European Commission, WWF, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) and are hosted by UNEP FI as part of the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative.
