World Ocean Radio - Ocean Finance
This week on World Ocean Radio we're discussing an Executive Order entitled "Change in Natural Asset Wealth" signed by US President Joe Biden on Earth Day in April 2022, and the recommendations laid out in the 15-year plan that will measure economic value of natural resources, recognizing that a robust economy depends on a healthy natural environment.
We have focused the last few World Ocean Radio episodes on the value of ecosystems, how we assess, monetize and protect with new practices that are constructive and sustainable. How do we move forward? This week we are discussing potential approaches that include protection of resources and new regulations against abuse and irresponsible consumption, and we propose expanding the Global Environment Facility (GEF), a multi-lateral trust fund, to include a new ocean sustainability bank that incentivizes change and lends funds based on sustainability principles and a new definition of return on investment.
This week on World Ocean Radio we're talking about the latest OUR OCEAN Conference in Palau and the contradiction of mangrove protection and invested monies for environmental protection interests. What happens with all the promises made at OUR OCEAN? Where does the money go? What have past commitments achieved and how are outcomes measured?
Is economic growth antithetical to the overall health of society? This week on World Ocean Radio we discuss the concentration of capital and offer two examples of an ocean economy currently dominated by special interests, including the recent creation of Natural Asset Companies designed to turn ecosystem services into tradable commodities.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have long been the cogs turning the wheels of global economics, driving infrastructure growth and economic development while often supporting the exploitation of natural resources and ignoring the social consequences of poverty, displacement, and disruption. Some have argued that the World Bank and the IMF have outlived their purpose, no longer effective as tools for the future. This week we're discussing the Global Environment Facility (GEF), a little known agency that finances large international projects with demonstrated financial outcomes that are progressive and sustainable.
This week on World Ocean Radio: five suggested strategies as laid out by Karl Burkart (Managing Director of One Earth and formerly the Director of Science & Technology at the DiCaprio Foundation) by which to create the funds required to meet the urgent global climate crisis.
How can ecological resistance be sustained? This week on World Ocean Radio, part 40 of the BLUEprint Series, we outline various tools to confront the challenge of stressed ocean systems: coastal zone management, pollution reduction, marine spatial planning, and other active restoration programs that may serve to diminish the negative decline and define a new, sustainable way forward.
The Blue Economy is providing new investment in ocean resources. How might individual investors do blue economy investing the right way, and which investments meet the criteria for true blue investing? This week on World Ocean Radio, part 40 of the BLUEprint Series, host Peter Neill dives into the true meaning of the often over-used "blue economy" terminology and describes his recent discovery of a strategic initiatives portfolio conceived by JPI Oceans in Europe that strives to increase the impact of national investments in marine and maritime research and innovation. And he shares the values, goals and objectives that propose a structure around which specific investments could be made to achieve social and monetary return while achieving a commitment to sustainability and the ocean.
In this episode, part thirty-seven of the multi-part BLUEprint series, we continue to discuss the take-aways from the recently published 2nd United Nations World Ocean Assessment, a report that looks at the social, environmental, demographic and economic trends, as well as a review of the integrated sustainable management of coasts and oceans as driven by science, technology and innovation. In this episode we look at the report through the lens of ecosystem service analysis, the ways in which we view and value Nature, and some examples of projects globally that are based ecosystem service accounting that are preserving places and biodiversity.
This week on World Ocean Radio we broadcast the 31st part of the ongoing BLUEprint series. In this episode we discuss the Blue Economy and the "business as usual" operations of The Ocean 100--the largest trans-national companies that account for the most profits from the ocean while also generating the most emissions, waste and other pollutants to the ocean. We describe what is known as the Blue Acceleration and argue that current economic activity is not meeting the requirements for economic growth and improved livelihoods while simultaneously preserving the health of the ocean ecosystem, and that these Ocean 100 companies could be a force for change of the Blue Economy with help from public awareness and consumer pressure.
This week on World Ocean Radio: part twenty-nine of the multi-part BLUEprint series. In this episode we discuss the March 2021 release by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs announcing a new statistical framework entitled the "System of Environmental/Economic Accounting" (SEEA EA) which would ensure that natural capital (the contributions of forests, oceans, and other ecosystems) are integrated into economic reporting. This move may reshape decision- and policy-making toward sustainable development: natural capital calculated as equal to financial capital, as a mandatory inclusion in the budgets and estimates for all new development projects and corporate initiatives.
This week on World Ocean Radio: part nineteen of the multi-part BLUEprint series. In this episode we discuss the financial tools such as subsidies, regulation and private investment that have historically been used to advance conventional change in the economy. We ask listeners to consider these same tools of finance used to sustain natural capital, releasing value for the benefit of all mankind.
This week on World Ocean Radio: part eighteen of the multi-part BLUEprint series. In this episode we discuss the concept of blue bonds and a new Nature Conservancy program designed for small island and coastal nations to reinvest in their natural resources by refinancing national debt in a way that secures funding for a commitment to protect near-shore ocean areas such as coral reefs and mangroves.
This week on World Ocean Radio: part seventeen of the multi-part BLUEprint series. In this episode we ask a series of questions that challenge the current insurance system in the US, including a vision for a redesign built around risk prevention and for reinvestment of premiums in systems that anticipate disruption and aggregate to larger strategies that reduce costs overall.
This week on World Ocean Radio: part sixteen of the multi-part BLUEprint series. In this episode we talk about the blue and the green economy in the context of profit motive and how it can be good business to adopt climate risk disclosure and guidelines for investment assessment standards that balance risk against opportunity. We argue that if used properly, this could result in new and transformative change toward a cleaner, more sustainable future.
This week on World Ocean Radio: part fifteen of the multi-part BLUEprint series. In this episode we look at the Federal Reserve in the USA through the lens of environmental destruction, biodiversity loss and other impacts. And we ask, "Why would any central bank enable investment that is proven to be destructive to the value of Nature--our most precious asset?"
This week on World Ocean Radio: part fourteen of the multi-part BLUEprint series. In this episode we assert that it's time to close our minds to past ways, open our eyes to new ones, and imagine a new economy reshaped from the bottom up and inside out--a process that will grow and progress in outwardly expanding concentric circles to include everyone and everything within.
Since the mid 2000s, economists have spoken of Black Swans, disruptive financial events that embody three special characteristics: they are rare, wide-ranging and extreme, and they are explicable only after the fact. Now there are Green Swan events, a new scientific classification for climate catastrophes that can trigger systemic financial crisis unless authoritative action is taken. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill argues that due to the global disruption caused by the Coronavirus outbreak, we may now be in the midst of our first major global Green Swan event.
In the United States, planning and reparation for coastal flooding and damage has been administered under a National Flood Insurance Program that since 1978 has paid more than $40 billion in claims. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we outline some of the reasons why the program is not working, especially as extreme weather becomes more prevalent and levels of destruction more severe.
How does the Green New Deal integrate with the best desired practices and changes for the ocean? In this episode of World Ocean Radio we outline a paper published by The Ocean Foundation that addresses three ocean areas that must be considered as part of a vision and strategy for developing a more sustainable economy: shipping, energy production and food security.
World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill recently returned from the Economist World Ocean Summit in Cancún, Mexico where he gathered with 400 ocean leaders and decision makers to discuss ocean policy, strategies, research, exploration and innovation. In this 461st episode of World Ocean Radio he shares what was discussed at the summit but also what was left out: namely the global fresh water cycle and the ocean as a financial, political, social, and cultural system. And he shares a surprising discovery made while swimming in an underground limestone cave in the the Mayan ruins at Chitzenitsa.
The pursuit for oil continues, even as many alternatives emerge and investments are displaced. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill discusses the various governments around the world doubling down on their search for and extraction of oil, even as the world appears ready to move beyond the investment toward cleaner technologies.
Early in 2018, BlackRock asset management chair Larry Fink issued a statement declaring growing public demand for companies to serve a social purpose. He asserted that, increasingly, both public and private companies must be able to explain their social and environmental impacts and be able to demonstrate leadership to drive prosperity and security--not just for their own investment returns--but for all. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill hails this paradigm shift suggested by Mr. Fink and proposes a World Ocean Fund for investment-based forward-looking technologies, sustainability and responsibility in markets to shape the 21st century and beyond.
This week on World Ocean Radio: part five of a multi-part series on the Arctic. In this episode, host Peter Neill discusses the ongoing debate over geological claims to the Arctic and who owns the rights to the natural resources in the vast outer limits of Arctic waters.
Insurance touches every aspect of our lives, protecting us from financial loss. As climate change is continually felt everywhere on the planet, how might we protect against the impacts of extreme weather, sea level rise, and more? In this episode of World Ocean Radio we outline the role of insurance companies and the ways in which insurance must adapt as a risk management tool for the world's most vulnerable.
