Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance
News
Thursday 17 October 2024
Dear ORRAA Members and Friends,
Harnessing the Power of the Ocean Community
New York was full of people, sirens and traffic jams. Our member meeting took place amidst it all, reflecting the evolving interest in the critical role of finance and investing in nature and climate solutions.
I’m still riding the wave created at our meeting: The energy. The passion. The commitment. The action. It was a brilliant example of what we can achieve together, harnessing the immense power of collaboration and catalysing the crucial importance of finance and insurance in driving change.
We celebrated ORRAA’s fifth anniversary since our launch at the Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit in 2019 and all we have achieved together – the short story of which you can read here.
Karen Sack, Executive Director, ORRAA, addressing the member meeting
There are now over 100 members in our Alliance. We’re honoured to have Lloyd’s and Agence Française de Développement (AFD) as well as GIZ recently join.
We made significant announcements and propelled our combined thinking and action through our Solution Labs, more detail of which is below.
And last but definitely not least, a heartfelt thanks to our lead global banking partner Deutsche Bank, which very kindly provided its wonderful hospitality at its beautiful offices overlooking Central Park. With particular thanks to Claudio de Sanctis, Markus Müller, Nicky West, Claire Coustar, Jacquie Valouch and our generous host on the day, Anthony Valvo and the team in New York.
As announced on the day, Deutsche Bank’s support goes a long way beyond this. It has stepped up its focus on Ocean health as part of its #BackBlue commitment by enhancing its policies on ocean-related investments 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. We recognise the leadership and partnership of Claudio and his team in taking this significant step and look forward to others in the finance sector stepping forward in a similar way in the run-up to the Blue Economy and Finance Forum just before the third UN Ocean Conference next June.
As I said at the member meeting, “we know that we do not have all the answers, but we are all here because we know we need to find solutions, to beat the challenges and build the opportunities.”
Read on for a read-out from our day together in New York.
Karen & the ORRAA team
Key Announcements at our Member Meeting
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.
USAID will continue to strengthen its partnership with the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance and The Development Guarantee Group by investing into 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.
Alfredo Giron, Head of the Ocean Action Agenda at the World Economic Forum, announces its partnership with ORRAA’s Karen Sack
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.
Chip Cunliffe, ORRAA’s Senior Director, Innovation & Pipeline Development
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 plus the expansion to 30% to be approximately USD$300million over 10 years. Work is now underway to identify sustainable finance mechanisms, aimed at implementing the most promising solutions.
Solution Labs
One of the key aspects of the Alliance’s operating model is one of radical collaboration. This came to life during our member meeting with our sequence of Solutions Labs across the regenerative and sustainable blue economy.
For full summaries of the Solution Labs please click here.
Hitting the Final High Note
Singer songwriter AY performs Life Below Water – a track from Project 17, one song for each of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. AY Young brought the house down after a productive day, reminding us that however serious we need to be, music and culture spark the creativity we need to help solve some of the World’s biggest challenges. Thank you AY!
Feedback Survey
Singer songwriter AY performs Life Below Water – a track from Project 17, one song for each of the UN For those who attended the member meeting, we would love to hear about your experience! Please fill out our feedback survey here to help us continue to improve and make this gathering as impactful as possible for our members.
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