Welcome to our December Newsletter,
Hope everyone’s having a wonderful holiday season!
This year was an incredibly active and productive one for the sustainable ocean finance community. For our year-end newsletter, we’d like to focus on a vital topic we first learned
of while engaging with various United Nations entities: capacity building. In particular, we’d like to highlight three initiatives we were excited to engage with this year. These
initiatives, along with many others, continue to build a blue economy investment ecosystem that grows more powerful and far-reaching each year.
1000 Ocean Startups Goes Global:
This year, the 1000 Ocean Startups coalition extended its reach to a truly global scale, including
new and/or deeper representation from Chile, Finland, Singapore, Israel, Kenya and Italy. By fostering collaboration across regions and bringing together innovative solution
seekers with different yet complementary approaches, the coalition continues to drive impactful blue economy progress worldwide. Big shout-out to Ingrid Maurstad and Katapult
Ocean, our fantastic Steering Committee Co-Chair this past year, and we look forward to welcoming four new Steer-Co committee members in January!
NOAA Launches Groundbreaking Accelerator Program:
In an exciting step forward, NOAA launched a $54.3 million accelerator program this year designed to supercharge blue economy ventures in the United States. The Ocean-Based Climate
Resilience Accelerators program (OCRA) will bring unprecedented opportunities to blue entrepreneurs and researchers in four hubs across the country. We were delighted to attend the
announcement of
the winners last
month in Washington DC as an external advisor to the Ocean Enterprise Initiative.
WHOI and Scripps Host Ocean Pavilion at COP29:
For the third year in a row, the Ocean Pavilion successfully brought together leaders, innovators, and
advocates to spotlight ocean-climate linkages at COP. With Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the helm, the pavilion continues to
inspire meaningful action and bring the ocean into key climate dialogues. Helena, our Director of Operations & Strategy, was thrilled to speak on a
NOAA-led panel moderated by Dr. Rick Spinrad, where she
highlighted ways in which Investable Oceans is actively supporting the OCRA program.
Special Holiday Bonus: Three awesome reads for your fireplace / beach reading!
-
The Blue Machine, Helen Czerski – an engaging, multi-disciplinary examination of the world’s oceans
-
The Value of a Whale, Adrienne Buller – a thoughtful review and critique of the increasingly popular field of “green finance”
-
Science on a Mission, Naomi Oreskes – an intriguing analysis of the role military funding has played in charting the course of research at WHOI, Scripps and Lamont
Doherty over past decades
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year and a wonderful 2025! See you all soon, and thank you for being part of this incredible journey.
Many thanks,
The Investable Oceans Team
