ORRAA Member Meeting Update

New York News: We made some significant announcements during our Member Meeting last week. Thanks to the near 200 strong contingent who came together to focus on ocean risk and resilience!

• There are now over 100 members in our alliance. We’re honoured to have Lloyd’s and Agence Française de Développement (AFD) recently join. 
• We celebrated ORRAA’s fifth anniversary since its launch at the Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit in 2019. 
• We announced a partnership with the World Economic Forum and its Ocean Action Agenda to accelerate the uptake of the #BackBlue Ocean Finance Commitment by recruiting more financial institutions and insurers to join the Commitment in the run up to the Blue Economy and Finance Forum (BEFF) in Monaco, a Special Event of the UN Ocean Conference in Nice next June.  
• Our lead global banking partner, Deutsche Bank, stepped up its commitment to Ocean health as part of its #BackBlue commitment. Deutsche Bank is setting new standards in ocean protection by enhancing its policies and introducing stricter guidelines for maritime transport and infrastructure to ensure compliance with UN conventions. It has also expanded due diligence to better protect sensitive marine habitats and critical ecosystems, as well as strengthened oversight on investment into marine aquaculture and fisheries. Notably, Deutsche Bank has prohibited direct financing for deep-sea mining projects, recognising the current regulatory gaps and environmental risks involved.
• USAID will continue to strengthen its partnership with the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance and The Development Guarantee Group by investing into the development of the Nautilus Blue Guarantee Company. A guarantee is a “promise to pay”, taking away the potential risk of investment losses and making them more attractive to private investors. 
• USAID is also backing Outrigger Impact with an investment. Outrigger is the first investment vehicle focused on driving ‘missing middle’ investments into regenerative and sustainable blue economy enterprises in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). USAID’s EDGE Fund grant will be used to cornerstone Outrigger’s Technical Assistance Facility (TAF), critical for the success of the fund as its catalytic capital will be deployed to de-risk investment opportunities in SIDS and will provide grant funding for smaller islands that are not suitable for the return-seeking investment window, as well as support investments into critical Nature-based Solutions. By investing into key sustainable blue economic sectors, Outrigger will be a source of transformative blended capital delivered at scale that will enable the conditions for further private and public sector engagement to support building climate adaptation solutions in these big Ocean States.  
• Building on the groundbreaking work done to develop the High-Quality Blue Carbon Principles & Guidance we’ve worked with our partners to launch the High-Quality Blue Carbon Practitioners Guide, so that the Principles can become everyday practice around the world. Both investors and project developers bear a shared responsibility in ensuring the development of a high-quality blue carbon market with clear safeguards and guardrails. Thank you ORRAA members Conservation International for taking the lead and The Nature Conservancy, World Economic Forum and Salesforce for the cross-sector collaboration to make this happen. 
• WILDTRUST has led a financial needs assessment for South Africa to achieve its 30×30 ocean ambition. It found the finance gap for effective management of existing MPAs is US$220m over 10 years, with an additional US$130m for an expanded 30×30 MPA network. Work is now underway to identify sustainable finance mechanisms, aimed at implementing the most promising solutions.