The United Nations, in collaboration with the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Greening Financial Regulation Initiative, has published a new revised edition of the Ocean Investment Protocol.
First released in 2025, the Ocean Investment Protocol gives investors and financial institutions a roadmap for how to support the ocean economy while also supporting sustainability and a healthy ocean. The protocols were designed to help investors align with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and provide a framework that would increase investment in the blue economy.
The U.N. said those protocols need to evolve amid changing priorities.
“The revised protocol reflects a growing understanding that declining ocean health is not only an environmental challenge but also a material economic and financial risk,” the U.N. said in a release. “Ocean-related dependencies and risks can affect financial stability, sovereign creditworthiness, food and energy security, trade, and the resilience of economies and communities.”
The U.N. said the changes have several priorities, including stronger action by central banks, regulators, and supervisors. The U.N. said the new protocol includes recommendations on how public financial authorities can “incorporate ocean-related risks and opportunities into financial stability assessments, supervisory approaches, sustainable finance frameworks, and risk management.”
Another priority is increasing the integration of ocean considerations into financial decision-making, identifying the risks related to ocean degradation and the existing financial dependencies on ocean ecosystems. Additionally, scaling investment in a sustainable ocean economy is listed as another priority.
“The protocol seeks to strengthen the pipeline of investable opportunities across areas including sustainable seafood, shipping, ports, offshore renewable energy, coastal infrastructure, tourism, conservation, and nature-based solutions,” the U.N. said.
The revised protocol also highlights the need for better access to ocean data and the need for coherent regulation to enable private capital to invest in the ocean economy.
“By providing a common foundation for stakeholders across the financial system, the revised Ocean Investment Protocol aims to help financial actors manage ocean-related risks, identify emerging investment opportunities and direct capital toward activities that support a healthy and resilient ocean,” the U.N. said. “In doing so, it supports progress toward SDGs, the Paris Agreement, and global biodiversity commitments.”
