How Twiggy got hooked on the ocean finance movement
Sustainable finance has typically focused on land-based efforts. The ocean finance movement, which includes billionaire Andrew Forrest amongst its proponents, has emerged to ensure marine ecosystems don't miss out.
Although it covers 70% of the earth’s surface, the ocean is often left out when it comes to environmental sustainability efforts, with most efforts focused on land-based solutions.
Enter the ocean finance movement, which has emerged to redress this imbalance through the provision of sustainability finance.
It aims to protect biodiversity in the ocean, which is home to 80% of all species on earth, while also promoting sustainable development of ocean-facing industries in line with United Nations sustainable development goals. And it's attracted the attention of one of Australia's richest people, Andrew Forrest, whose charitable arm is investing in the development of the multi-trillion dollar ocean economy.
Australia’s ocean financing efforts have been brought together under the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), where the main focus is on aquaculture and marine renewable energy to facilitate the development of the nascent offshore wind industry. The CRC has undertaken projects as varied as developing new offshore-based aquaculture fish pens, studying the role of kelp forests in aquaculture, and improving the logistics of co-locating offshore wind and fish breeding projects.
