The blue imperative: understanding interactions between the ocean, climate and economy

The services provided by the ocean and marine ecosystems are pivotal to sustaining life on Earth and underpin vital interactions between the climate, economy and human wellbeing. But the ocean and marine ecosystems are under threat from climate change and the impacts of harmful economic activities, creating risk to the global economy that is currently overlooked.

This report addresses this omission and intends to contribute to a greater understanding of the ‘blue imperative’ among economic stakeholders and financial policymakers.

An accompanying 8-page policy brief draws out the report’s main arguments further.

Key messages

• There is growing awareness among economic and financial policymakers about climate- and nature-related risks, but the focus is on the economic implications of the loss of terrestrial ecosystems. This overlooks the ocean’s vital contributions to regulating the climate, managing the impacts of climate change and providing other provisioning and regulating services.
• The impacts of climate change would be far more extreme if not for the mitigating influence of the ocean, which captures excess heat and sequesters carbon. But this has taken a toll on ocean health, leading to marine heatwaves, ocean acidification, storm surges and sea-level rise.
• Furthermore, human activity is significantly impeding the functioning of ocean and coastal ecosystem services. This includes drilling for fossil fuels, mining minerals, pollution from plastics, chemicals or noise, which cause habitat destruction and other physical damage.
• The ocean economy, which is dependent on a healthy functioning marine environment, makes a significant contribution to the global economy. Therefore, the harm being caused by humans represents a significant economic risk. (See our illustration of the ocean economy below.)
• An enhanced conceptualisation of the blue economy is required that emphasises sustainability, recognises the interconnectedness of oceans, climate and society and addresses economic, environmental and social considerations. We call this a ‘sustainable ocean economy’.
• There is an immediate need for the financial sector to increase its understanding of ocean-related financial risk so it can recognise the importance of reducing finance flows to harmful activities and increasing financing of a sustainable ocean economy.

The ocean economy, comprising marine ecosystem services, economic activities and selected polluting effects