The United Nations Global Compact has joined the UNEP FI-hosted Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative and WWF’s Greening Financial Regulation Initiative (WWF GFRI) to release an updated Ocean Investment Protocol (OIP).
For the first time, the revision offers guidance aimed at central banks, supervisors and financial regulators.
The OIP now asks public financial authorities to treat ocean-related risks and opportunities as part of their core work. The new recommendations show how these bodies can build ocean factors into financial stability assessments, supervisory methods, risk management and sustainable finance frameworks.
The central argument of the revision is that the deterioration of marine ecosystems poses a material economic and financial threat as well as an environmental one. According to the partners, dependence on the ocean and exposure to its decline can affect sovereign credit strength, financial stability, trade flows, food and energy supply, and the ability of communities and economies to withstand shocks.
Beyond regulators, the Protocol urges financial actors to make fuller use of their existing risk and finance tools so that reliance on healthy marine ecosystems, and the dangers of their decline, are properly recognised.
It also aims to expand the supply of investable projects in areas such as sustainable seafood, shipping, ports, offshore renewables, coastal infrastructure, tourism, conservation and nature-based solutions.
The document further calls for dependable and accessible ocean data, shared methodologies and wider ocean literacy throughout the financial system. It stresses that consistent regulation, standards, public funding and other supporting conditions are needed to draw in private capital and speed up the transition.
First published in May 2025, the OIP is a detailed guide intended to raise and scale funding for a resilient ocean and a thriving, innovative Sustainable Ocean Economy. It draws on the UN Global Compact Sustainable Ocean Principles and the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles developed by UNEP FI.
The framework is designed for financial institutions, insurers, ocean industries, governments, development finance institutions and financial authorities that want to bring their decisions into line with an inclusive and sustainable ocean economy.
The updated edition takes account of recent shifts in sustainable ocean finance and the increasing acceptance that ocean factors matter for long-term investment, economic resilience and financial stability.
By giving stakeholders a shared starting point, the partners hope the Protocol will help institutions manage ocean-related exposures, spot new investment prospects and channel capital into activities that protect marine health. The effort also supports the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and international biodiversity commitments.
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