European Investment Bank Joins the Launch of the United Nations Ocean Investment Protocol to Drive Sustainable Ocean Economy

European Investment Bank Joins the Launch of the United Nations Ocean Investment Protocol to Drive Sustainable Ocean Economy

(IN BRIEF) The European Investment Bank (EIB) has expressed its full support for the launch of the United Nations Ocean Investment Protocol, a crucial framework aimed at aligning financial flows and business practices with a sustainable ocean economy. The Protocol, developed with the support of the UN Global Compact and UNEP FI, provides a roadmap for financial institutions, governments, and businesses to foster growth in ocean industries while protecting the environment and promoting social inclusion. The EIB, as a major contributor to blue economy projects, views the Protocol as an important tool for scaling finance and driving the transition to a sustainable ocean economy.

(PRESS RELEASE) LUXEMBOURG, 28-May-2025 — /EuropaWire/ — The European Investment Bank (EIB) has voiced its strong support for the launch of the United Nations Ocean Investment Protocol, a comprehensive framework designed to align financial flows and business practices with the transition to a sustainable ocean economy. As a key knowledge partner in its development, the EIB recognizes the Protocol as an essential tool for scaling finance that supports a healthy and resilient ocean ecosystem.

Unveiled today by the United Nations Global Compact and the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), the Ocean Investment Protocol builds upon the UN Global Compact Sustainable Ocean Principles and UNEP FI’s Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles. The Protocol provides financial institutions, insurers, ocean industries, governments, and development finance institutions with a clear pathway to advance the growth of a Sustainable Ocean Economy and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG14 (“Life Below Water”).

The EIB, as the largest development finance institution supporting the blue economy, has committed €10.6 billion to blue economy projects from 2020 to 2024, aiming to mobilize a total of €43 billion in investments. In 2017, the EIB also co-founded the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles, helping establish a global standard for responsible investment in ocean industries.

The launch of the Ocean Investment Protocol comes at a critical time as global momentum grows around nature-positive agendas, the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, and intensified action to address plastic and chemical pollution. The Protocol is designed to stimulate multi-stakeholder collaboration leading up to significant ocean, climate, and biodiversity milestones.

Key components of the Protocol include:

• Holistic Guidance for financial actors to manage environmental risks and promote growth in sectors such as offshore renewables, sustainable seafood, and climate-resilient infrastructure.
• Data and Disclosure recommendations for enhancing transparency on nature-related risks and impacts, aligning with global reporting standards such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.
• Sector-Specific Roadmaps that provide responsible financing and operational guidance for industries including shipping, tourism, fisheries, renewable energy, and other ocean sectors.
• Policy and Regulation Support to foster investment-ready environments, promote marine spatial planning, and encourage incentives for sustainable practices.
• Catalytic Role of Development Finance to support pipeline development in emerging markets and coastal communities, which are most vulnerable to climate change impacts.

“The UN Ocean Investment Protocol is a powerful complement to the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles that the EIB co-founded,” said EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle. “It offers governments, financial institutions, insurers, and businesses the clarity and direction needed to align private investments with the Sustainable Development Goals. By providing clear guidance for responsible investment, the Protocol will ensure that growth in ocean industries is sustainable, inclusive, and environmentally responsible. The EIB is committed to helping turn these recommendations into actionable outcomes for the benefit of both people and the planet.”

A thriving ocean is essential for biodiversity, food security, climate resilience, and global livelihoods. The Sustainable Ocean Economy links ocean health with prosperity—making targeted finance more urgent than ever. It is central to achieving the targets of the SDGs, the Paris Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. With ocean health inseparable from global prosperity, mounting pressures—rising ocean temperatures, overfishing, pollution, biodiversity loss, weak governance, and inequitable access to marine resources—highlight the urgency of dedicated investments and policies that safeguard marine ecosystems and drive equitable economic opportunities.

The ocean economy is already equivalent in size to the world’s fifth largest economy, and global markets are reliant on the ocean and its industries to support 90 percent of global trade volume. Developing a regenerative and sustainable ocean economy is becoming increasingly central to global transitions in trade, infrastructure, energy, climate resilience, food security and regenerative tourism. The Ocean Investment Protocol responds to the critical need for swift, holistic efforts to preserve ocean ecosystems and foster growth in sustainable ocean-based sectors. It outlines actionable steps to align investments with nature- and climate-positive outcomes, fostering innovation across key ocean sectors. By 2050, the market value of a refocused, sustainable and fairly shared ocean economy is projected to reach USD$5.5 trillion.

EIB

The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. Built around eight core priorities, we finance investments that contribute to EU policy objectives by bolstering climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, cohesion, agriculture and bioeconomy, social infrastructure, high-impact investments outside the European Union, and the capital markets union.

The EIB Group, which also includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), signed nearly €89 billion in new financing for over 900 high-impact projects in 2024, boosting Europe’s competitiveness and security.

All projects financed by the EIB Group are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, as pledged in our Climate Bank Roadmap. Almost 60% of the EIB Group’s annual financing supports projects directly contributing to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and a healthier environment.

Fostering market integration and mobilising investment, the Group supported a record of over €100 billion in new investment for Europe’s energy security in 2024 and mobilised €110 billion in growth capital for startups, scale-ups and European pioneers. Approximately half of the EIB’s financing within the European Union is directed towards cohesion regions, where per capita income is lower than the EU average.

High-quality, up-to-date photos of our headquarters for media use are available here.

Media contacts:

Antonie Kerwien
a.kerwien@eib.org
+352 4379 – 82175

Press Office
press@eib.org
+352 43791

SOURCE: European Investment Bank