Measuring Our Impact: Takeaways from the UN Ocean Conference

Altice Arena, the venue of the 2022 UN Ocean Conference. Photo: UN DESA

A few weeks ago, a good chunk of the ocean impact world met at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon. Perhaps we’re biased (ok, we are definitely biased), but in our opinion, the most exciting conversations were happening at the side events. Here, attendees got into the how – how are we going to make the changes we all see as necessary – with a focus on startups and the financial players that support them.

While supporting bluetech startups is a key strategy for addressing climate change and ocean health, there are challenges. The space is nascent, it lacks the name recognition of cleantech/climatetech, and the boundaries of what is “in” and what is “out” between different investors and other stakeholders is hazy. On top of that, there’s no clear way to communicate about the impact these startups are making.  

SeaAhead co-founder Alissa Peterson spoke about just this topic at the 1000 Ocean Startup’s Ocean Impact Navigator launch. While there were many important takeaways from the conference, here are four things we are keeping in mind:  

1. The bluetech industry is just getting started

It’s early days yet for the bluetech industry. The 1000 Ocean Startups consortia, of which SeaAhead is an active member, aims to support 1,000 ocean startups worldwide in the next decade. They’ve already seen huge leaps in the number of startups identified in the space: 2021 saw a total of 1,978 ocean startups, a 90% increase in 2 years. It’s an exciting increase, but we’re still a young industry figuring it out as we go along.

Source: Katapult Ocean, 2020, 2021, 2022

2. We need to put more money to work

Money unfortunately makes the world go round, and the ocean economy isn’t receiving its share. In fact, the Ocean Risk Alliance reports that less than 1% of climate resources are invested in coastal and marine solutions. Katapult found that Europe, with its friendly government policies and abundance of public sector funding, currently dominates 52% of the ocean tech market; the U.S. trails behind at 20% (see figure above).  

There is hope, however. Private investors are increasingly realizing the need to fund more sustainable businesses. Venture capitalists are beginning to focus specifically on ocean opportunities, SeaAhead among them.  

3. We need better communication

The current method of reporting company-by-company isn’t practical – it's impossible to accurately compare the impact of a wave energy generator to the impact of a kelp farm. It lacks the straightforwardness of climatetech, where large scale investment focuses on greenhouse gas (GHG) avoided as the sole metric.  

While GHG’s are still important in bluetech, there’s also habitat restoration, reduction in ocean pollution and noise, increase in biodiversity…the list goes on. What we measure matters.

If bluetech startups and investors can’t communicate impact using a common vocabulary, convincing others to join us is much harder. This difficulty was the driving factor that led the 1000 Ocean Startups to launch the Ocean Impact Navigator, with support with SystemIQ. It’s a work in progress towards simplifying messages and streamlining reporting. They’re currently soliciting feedback to the framework, so please submit any suggestions here.  

4. The ocean is more than a victim

Ocean news is often pretty depressing: marine life disappearing along with their habitats, rising sea levels destroying homes, and ghost fishing gear ensnaring whales and sea turtles. But the ocean is more than a laundry list of pessimism.

Entrepreneurs are getting creative with solutions, and they’re using the ocean as a resource. Inversa uses invasive lionfish to make leather. The offshore wind industry’s incredible growth will create clean, renewable energy for millions. Kelp simultaneously provides a fast-growing and nutritious food source for a growing global population while sequestering nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

The ocean covers 70% of the planet – it’s not a limitless resource, but it is a resource nonetheless. If we don’t include it in our plans for a sustainable future, that is a serious handicap.