Blue Impact Strategy
Finance Earth and WWF collaborated from 2018 to 2021 to explore opportunities for attracting investment into ocean recovery. Building on this partnership, Finance Earth created the Blue Impact Strategy (formerly the Blue Impact Fund), a pioneering impact strategy investing in the UK’s sustainable blue economy.
The Blue Impact Strategy targeted enterprises producing sustainable seafood and aquatic plants that could generate attractive returns while delivering ocean resilience and recovery. As of November 2024, the Strategy is closed to new investment.
Background
The blue economy is expected to double over the next decade. Nevertheless, unsustainable economic activity is driving widespread loss of marine biodiversity, degrading and destroying vital habitats and the wildlife that depend on them.
However, the technologies and expertise required to ensure the sustainable growth of the blue economy exist in the world today, with new innovative solutions constantly in development. Enterprises that directly improve the resilience of or reduce pressure on the marine environment make up only a small part of the overall blue economy. We want to change that.
WWF believes that alongside restoring and protecting the ocean, targeted investment into marine enterprises is fundamental to delivering the transition to a sustainable blue economy, creating social and economic benefits for current and future generations.
Finance Earth and WWF collaborated to research and map the most impactful, investable opportunities for the UK sustainable blue economy. The Blue Impact Strategy was created as a result of this collaboration, with Finance Earth acting as fund manager, guided by a team of specialist advisors comprising representatives from across the seafood, investment and marine conservation sectors. WWF maintained an advisory role to the Strategy.
Investment opportunity
Global food fish consumption has grown faster over the last six decades than that of all terrestrial animals combined.[source: FAO] Aquaculture – the farming of seafood and aquatic plants – is the fastest-growing food production method globally, a trend that is projected to continue over the next decade.
Furthermore, innovation and development within the sector has demonstrated additional, alternative uses for aquatic plants, such as in the creation of bioplastics and as key ingredients in nutraceuticals.
Impact opportunity
| Impact |
How |
| Protect and restore marine ecosystems |
|
| Reduce carbon and ecological footprint |
|
| Improve livelihoods, health and wellbeing for communities |
|
Investment strategy
The Blue Impact Strategy aimed to build a diversified portfolio of investments to create further opportunities for portfolio synergies. Seafood and aquatic plants, and their connected supply chains, present market-ready investment opportunities that provide substantial and lasting social and environmental benefits, while also being underpinned by significant and growing market demand.
The investment team developed a high-quality pipeline across the following key themes:
- Marine aquaculture including inshore and offshore production
- Land-based production using Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) and other emerging technologies
- Seafood supply chain enterprises including upstream supply (for example, sustainable fish feed) and downstream processing and sales
The Blue Impact Strategy team will continue to explore emerging opportunities for investing in ocean recovery.
All Blue Impact Strategy investments were subject to rigorous impact assessment criteria that had been carefully designed in collaboration with WWF, ensuring that the Blue Impact Strategy upheld industry best practice and enabled continued, sustainable innovation and growth.
Enhancing impact through an Ocean Recovery Trust
The Blue Impact Strategy was created alongside an aligned charity, the Ocean Recovery Trust, which worked to restore ocean health by funding innovation, capacity building, and marine conservation programmes, growing the sustainable blue economy and delivering ocean restoration.
The Ocean Recovery Trust was funded through a ‘conservation dividend’ generated by the Blue Impact Strategy, alongside additional philanthropic donations.
