Cleantech Group’s baseline research of the worldwide blue economic system innovation ecosystem first sought to elucidate what the blue economic system is in a cleantech context, after which to research the demand pull, provide of innovation, funding, and know-how traits. The aim is to in the end determine alternatives, challenges, and gaps to attain systemic change.
The oceans are important to our planetary well being, society, and economic system. The annual gross marine product of the oceans is estimated to be $2.5T per yr. Nevertheless, over exploitation, air pollution, and local weather change are severely damaging the ocean which might price us $428B yearly by 2050 and trigger irrevocable injury or extinction to wildlife. With industries similar to transport and fish protein solely anticipated to develop, now’s the time to make sure growth within the ocean is sustainable.
The ocean is our best ally in opposition to local weather change, having absorbed round 25% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions because the Industrial Revolution and continues to have monumental potential for seize and storage. The Excessive-Stage Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economic system estimates that the ocean economic system can ship 21% of the greenhouse fuel emission reductions wanted to satisfy the Paris Settlement goal of limiting the typical international temperature rise to 1.5°C by 2050.
What’s the Blue Economic system?
The blue economic system represents all industries depending on or impacting our oceans. This encompasses revolutionary applied sciences that cut back, monitor, stop, or regenerate environmental injury. Within the context of cleantech, these applied sciences embody:
Extract Assets
Desalination, hydrogen, floating photo voltaic, wind, hydro & marine, operations & upkeep, vitality storage
Harvest Life
Different proteins, aquaculture, algae & seaweed, fishing
Keep & Restore
Blue carbon, nature restoration, resilient infrastructure, waste assortment, plastics recycling, bioplastics & wastewater therapy
Monitor
Local weather danger, ocean atmosphere monitoring, nature monitoring, and ocean automobiles
Transportation & Commerce
Gas-efficient and electrical vessels, transport fuels, ports, fleet administration, provide chain and logistics optimization, and anti-fouling
Innovation will play a key function in enabling sustainability and restoration in our oceans, with applied sciences similar to new maritime fuels the important thing to unlocking maritime decarbonization. The event of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) applied sciences would be the major enabler for ocean carbon or nature restoration credit. Nevertheless, the blue economic system know-how sector has been underfunded with VC funding representing solely 4% of all VC cleantech investments (January 2019 – Could 2024).
Funding is now shifting out of philanthropy and attracting VC and CVC {dollars}, with devoted capital, funds, traders, and accelerator packages for ocean know-how innovators growing in quantity. Nevertheless, many conventional VCs are cautious on account of lack of know-how and insular and conventional incumbent industries.
There are robust drivers growing for incumbent industries. Catalysed by laws, company pioneers in maritime transport have a restricted window to capitalize decarbonization alternatives in new maritime gasoline and electrical vessels. Key sectors similar to offshore renewables, aquaculture, and plastics recycling are scaling quickly, supported by confirmed and resilient enterprise fashions.
New markets are being created in monitoring, enhancing the protection and longevity of offshore and coastal belongings. The enterprise circumstances for rising high-impact sectors like blue carbon and nature restoration are enhancing, though they nonetheless encounter difficult market situations and vital obstacles to entry (e.g., certification, frameworks, and MRV for brand new offset venture sorts).
Main ecosystems in North America, Norway, Spain, France, Australia, and the UK are poised to be international hubs for ocean innovation, benefitting from ESOs networks, advertising, and funding.
These industries and rising markets will proceed to develop, however sustaining ocean ecosystem providers and realizing decarbonization and restoration potentials depend on sustained monetary help from traders, piloting and scaling partnerships from incumbents, and ratcheting decarbonization and ocean safety laws from governments.
This report serves as the primary in a collection of in-depth analyses exploring the start-ups, traders, nations, and firms which might be shaping the sustainable blue economic system globally. The subsequent levels will construct on the above to in the end determine alternatives, challenges, and gaps to attain systemic change. If you need to have entry to this or to be included within the analysis please attain out to Holly Stower, who leads our Blue Economic system analysis.
