The ocean is our most important ecosystem , yet its health is vital to humanity and is undergoing increasing stress due to climate change, nature loss, and pollution.

As an illustration, the Coral Triange in Asia is more important than the Amazon Rainforest in terms of biodiversity, environmental factors, population and economics despite both being of similar size (approx. 5.5 million km2).

The OECD expects the ocean economy to grow faster than the global economy between 2010 and 2030. Despite the economic development potential, the Ocean Ecosystem remains off the radar screen for most investors: According to Trackinsight, only one ETF out of 896 ETFs with a SDG theme target SDG 14/Life below water.

Investors’ focus remains incredibly narrow: One UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) “Climate Action” makes 71% of total Assets Under Management (AUM) for the 17 SDG themes Exchange Traded Funds (ETF).

Our Proprietary Scorecard tracks the progress and impact of countries on the UN SDG14 - Life below water - theme: Norway ranks the best while the US ranks the worst.

All is not blue… three key challenges when considering the Ocean as an investment opportunity are:
1) Lack of investment instruments specific to the ocean ecosystem.
2) There is no global organisation: 65% of the ocean is considered as international waters and this leads to a major problem of responsibility and collaboration.
3) Industry interconnectivity, lack of frameworks and standards focused on ocean sustainability.