What Ocean Sustainability Means for Business

The global economy is heavily dependent on the ocean, which generates $2.5 trillion in annual goods and services and supports millions of livelihoods. However, the ocean faces five critical challenges: climate change, ecosystem destruction, overexploitation, pollution, and ineffective governance. To address these, the report proposes three strategic imperatives for businesses: ensuring sustainable use of resources, leveraging blue carbon for sequestration, and increasing coastal resilience. The document emphasizes the role of G20 nations and the need for 'blue financing' to close a significant funding gap, as only 0.01% of global SDG funding currently targets ocean-based solutions.

• The ocean is a massive economic driver, generating approximately $2.5 trillion in goods and services annually, with the 100 largest ocean-related companies earning $1.1 trillion in real terms in 2018. It supports 55-65 million jobs in fisheries, aquaculture, and tourism, and approximately 8% of the global population depends at least partially on the ocean for their livelihoods.
• The ocean is critical for climate mitigation, absorbing 90% of excess heat and 23% of human-generated CO2 emissions. It offers significant renewable energy potential, including floating solar and wave energy, the latter of which could potentially meet the world's total annual electricity needs if fully harnessed.

APA

World Economic Forum (2022). What Ocean Sustainability Means for Business. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_What_Ocean_Sustainability_Means_for_Business.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. What Ocean Sustainability Means for Business. 2022. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_What_Ocean_Sustainability_Means_for_Business.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=What Ocean Sustainability Means for Business |date=November 2022 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_What_Ocean_Sustainability_Means_for_Business.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2022what, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{What Ocean Sustainability Means for Business}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2022}, month = nov, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_What_Ocean_Sustainability_Means_for_Business.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }