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- Blue Finance Guidelines Version 2.0
- Blue Finance Guidelines Version 1.0 (English | 简体中文)
Blue Finance is an emerging area in Climate Finance with increased interest from investors, financial institutions, and issuers globally. It offers tremendous opportunities and helps address pressing challenges by contributing to economic growth, improved livelihood, and the health of marine ecosystems. The ocean economy sustains over 100 million full-time jobs globally and is expected to contribute more than $5 trillion to the global economy by 2050.
Innovative financing solutions are key to enhancing ocean and coastal preservation and increasing clean water resources, and Blue Finance has a huge potential to help realize these goals.
IFC’s first Guidelines for Blue Finance were launched in 2022, identifying eligible blue project categories to guide IFC’s investments to support the blue economy, in line with the Green Bond Principles and Green Loan Principles. IFC’s Guidelines for Blue Finance Version 2.0 is designed to help financial institutions and market stakeholders identify, structure, and scale investments that contribute to the sustainable use of water and ocean resources.
This edition offers:
- An updated eligibility framework for blue finance activities, including expanded sector coverage across water security, plastics recycling, shipping, aquaculture, marine conservation, and more.
- Provides practical guidance on designing blue bonds, loans, and sustainability-linked instruments, along with sample blue key performance indicators (KPIs) to support performance tracking.
- Impact indicators to support transparency and reporting across blue investments.
- Case studies to help both public and private sector actors apply the Guidelines in real-world settings.
- Alignment with international standards, including the Green Bond Principles and the Green Loan Principles as well as the Sustainability-Linked Bond and Loan Principles.
Related Links
- IFC and Blue Finance
- Podcast: Seas of opportunity: navigating the Blue Economy - Ep.15 - The role of development finance institutions in scaling finance into the blue economy
- Story: 3 Ways Thailand is Building its Blue Economy
- Opinion: Riding the waves: unlocking opportunities from the blue economy
- The Ocean, Changing Lives and Powering Growth — Game Changers for a Livable Planet