With a sea view

“The dragonfly” is a blog on nature and business, coordinated by Sylvie Goulard

Though 70 % of planet Earth is covered by seas, and the ocean is home to 95 % of the planet’s biosphere, we still know less about life in oceans than on the Moon. And we care less about the impact of our activities at sea than on land. We usually don’t measure our dependency on oceans, nor do we realise how climate change is going to impact our coasts, islands and corals. Greening our business models by reducing CO2 emissions as well as safeguarding our value chains by protecting forests, plants and soils is indispensable, but not sufficient. We should no longer ignore which risks and opportunities the blue economy represents for our economies and societies.

Opening a window with a sea view was exactly the purpose of the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC), co-organized by France and Costa Rica in June 2025, which gathered 12,000 people in Nice.

Diplomatic efforts focused in particular on the ratification of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction agreement, which aims to protect the high seas (in order to encourage states to complete their ratification process). Many discussions took place around fishing (with the objective of fighting against illicit captures), marine protected areas, how to decarbonize maritime transports or to reduce plastics (with a “Nice wake-up call” on plastic). More than 2,000 scientists met at the One Ocean Science Congress, producing cross-cutting recommendations on the link between science and policy.

It is impossible to sum up all the exchanges that took place in official panels and behind the scenes. I would only focus on three observations.

Firstly, finance is now part of the discussion. The Blue Economic and Finance Forum (BEFF) that took place in Monaco just before UNOC showed that development banks and governments, private financial institutions and corporates, as well as scientists, NGOs and representatives of Indigenous people and local communities are already mobilized to develop new financial instruments for sustainable marine activities. Blue risks and opportunities are now evaluated by forward-looking central bankers, such as Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, who opened the plenary with a bold speech, “Steering the tide, safeguarding our ocean and economy”. She reminded us, in particular, that oceans are our best ally in tackling climate change and a vital pillar of the global economy, offering business opportunities and providing food to millions of people. Protecting them requires hundreds of billions of dollars in investment: from cutting greenhouse gas emissions to avoid sea level rise, to restoring mangroves and coral reefs, which serve as natural defenses against extreme weather events. At the same time, we must adapt to the new risks and forms of pollution linked to climate change, especially in the most vulnerable countries. The longer we wait, the more costly it will become.

Secondly, tools are being developed to place the ocean at the heart of sustainable finance and include it in the management of companies. In the first part of the BEFF, the Milan-based One Ocean Foundation, SDA Bocconi, McKinsey & Company and CSIC (the Spanish National Research Center) launched the Ocean Impact initiative , “the first global science-based framework designed to address the direct and indirect impacts of various business sectors on marine ecosystems”. This initiative offers a comprehensive approach specifically designed for the business and financial community, aiming to promote disclosure and integrate ocean-related indicators into corporate sustainability metrics. It supports informed, responsible investment decisions. As pressures at sea often come from the land, this new way to look at non-financial reporting could be a game-changer for the oceans.

Other instruments that could convert natural capital into financial capital are also being developed. They are very promising to foster investments in sustainable marine business: some biodiversity credits pilot projects by the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB) are aiming at preserving sea grass in Kenya or Australia, or coral reefs in the Philipines (Click here if you want to know more about these pilot projects). This is also the objective of the Blue Institute, mentioned by Christine Lagarde in her speech.

Thirdly, at a more political level, in Monaco and Nice many scientists, representatives of Indigenous people and local communities, corporates and finance professionals, and governments from all over the world made it clear that they are still in favor of cross-border, multilateral cooperation. They care about climate change and nature, and remain strongly committed. Even if the current geopolitical situation is characterized by wars and tensions, even if some powerful governments pretend that we could continue to over-exploit natural resources on land and at sea, a large majority of mankind wants to work together and proposes solutions.  We are not at the end of the journey to move from an extractive economy to sustainable, regenerative ways of making business, but the “good vibes” we all perceived in Nice will help us.