Ocean-related Investment

This Circular provides guidance on compiling indicators of ocean-related investment within the Ocean Accounts framework. Understanding the scale, composition, and trends of ocean-related investment enables policymakers to assess whether sufficient resources are being directed towards sustainable ocean development and conservation, including the targets set under SDG 14.7 (increasing economic benefits from the sustainable use of marine resources) and SDG 14.5 (conserving at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas).

• TG-0.1 General Introduction to Ocean Accounts — for the conceptual framework and key components of Ocean Accounts
• TG-0.2 Standards Overview — for the international statistical standards underpinning ocean accounting, including SNA 2025, SEEA, and classification systems
• TG-3.3 Economic Activity Relevant to the Ocean — for the ocean economy thematic and extended accounting framework, industry classifications, and supply and use table structures that provide the foundation for investment measurement

Investment in the ocean economy encompasses the acquisition of fixed assets by enterprises and government for the production of ocean-related goods and services, as well as targeted expenditure on marine environmental protection and ecosystem restoration. This Circular applies the GFCF framework from the System of National Accounts, supplemented by functional classifications for environmental expenditure and emerging standards for sustainable finance reporting.

3.1 Ocean Investment Framework

Investment in the ocean context can be organised into three conceptual categories that reflect different motivations, sources, and measurement approaches. This three-category framework provides a useful analytical structure but is not formally standardised in the SNA or SEEA. Countries may adapt these categories based on national policy priorities, provided that classification choices are documented to support transparency and comparability across compilations.

Where the classification rules are specified

Four classification decisions govern what an ocean investment compilation may count, and all four are specified in TG-3.3 Economic Activity Relevant to the Ocean Section 3.6: the basic/intermediate/extended scope tiers; the capitalisation decision tree for restoration expenditure, which determines whether mangrove planting or reef restoration is GFCF or current expenditure; residence and economic ownership for vessels and offshore installations, including the flags-of-convenience and ABNJ cases; and the GFCF/EPEA boundary rule that prevents coastal protection structures being counted twice.

Two of these bear directly on how the indicators below should be read. A compilation at basic tier should not be presented as exhaustive of ocean-related investment. And the scope tiers are orthogonal to the data-maturity pathway in Section 3.5 (Foundational, Developing, Advanced): the first says what to measure, the second what a compiler can produce from available data. A country at an early data-maturity stage may still target extended scope, and conflating the two understates what a compilation is aiming at.

Ocean Investment Classification Table

Table 1 provides an overview of the principal types of ocean-related investment, their treatment in the SNA framework, illustrative ocean examples, and typical data sources for compilation.

Table 1: Ocean Investment Classification

Relationship to national accounts

Ocean investment indicators are derived from the broader national accounts framework and should be consistent with national totals. The ocean economy thematic and extended account structure described in TG-3.3 Economic Activity Relevant to the Ocean provides the organising framework. Within this structure:

• Ocean economy GFCF represents the subset of total national GFCF attributable to ocean industries
• Environmental expenditure for ocean protection represents a functional classification of expenditure that may cross multiple industries
• Sustainable ocean finance represents a supplementary classification of financial instruments by purpose

Spatial and jurisdictional considerations

Investment measurement follows the residence principle of the SNA, attributing investment to the economic territory where the producing unit is resident. The governing attribution principle is economic ownership: the residence of the institutional unit that bears the economic risk and reward associated with the asset, not the flag of registration. For ocean activities, this creates specific considerations:

• Investment in vessels operated by a resident economic owner is attributed to the country of residence of that owner, regardless of the flag under which the vessel is registered.
• Offshore installations within a country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) are treated as being within the economic territory of the coastal state.
• Investment by non-resident enterprises operating under licence within the EEZ (such as foreign fishing fleets) is attributed to the country of residence of the enterprise.

Interim guidance for ABNJ-adjacent investment. Pending updated guidance from GOAP or the UN Statistics Division on BBNJ-related statistical treatment, compilers preparing 2025 and 2026 ocean accounts should:

1. Apply the SNA residence principle as the default rule: investment in ABNJ-related activities (deep-sea mining, high-seas fishing, BBNJ-linked biodiversity offset instruments) is attributed to the economic territory of the investing institutional unit.
2. Flag ABNJ-related investment as a separate memorandum item beneath the main ocean investment totals, so that future revision is straightforward when authoritative guidance is issued.
3. Retain full documentation of classification decisions (instrument, activity location, residence determination, taxonomy applied) to enable retrospective revision.

3.2 Public Investment Indicators

• Transport ministry project lists and capital programme documentation, filtered for port, harbour, dredging, and navigational projects
• Port authority capital accounts and annual reports
• Maritime safety authority budgets (lighthouses, coast guard, vessel traffic services)
• Where available, national or regional COFOG extensions that disaggregate water transport from inland-waterway, rail, road, and air components (for example, Eurostat national compilation manuals provide such extensions for EU member states)

There is no UN-issued fourth-level standard disaggregation for maritime transport within COFOG 04.5. Any sub-class breakdown is a national or regional statistical extension and should be documented as such.

The Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (SF-MST) notes that “government gross fixed capital formation may also be classified using COFOG and hence data for expenditures following the same classes … may be available”. This approach can be adapted for ocean economy measurement. Guidance on integrating government fiscal classifications with ocean accounts is provided in TG-1.1 Budget Processes, which addresses COFOG concordances and the mapping of budget line items to ocean economy categories.

Government environmental expenditure for ocean protection

The SEEA Central Framework’s Environmental Protection Expenditure Account (EPEA) can be adapted for marine contexts. Table 3.2.2 below summarises relevant expenditure categories for ocean protection.

Government environmental protection expenditure encompasses both current expenditure (operational costs of protection activities) and capital expenditure (investment in environmental protection infrastructure and equipment). The SEEA defines total national expenditure on environmental protection as including final consumption, intermediate consumption, and gross fixed capital formation on all environmental protection goods and services, plus capital formation for characteristic activities, plus relevant transfers.

From the public investment data, the following indicators can be derived:

3.3 Private Investment Indicators

Measurement of private investment draws on business survey data, administrative records, and estimation techniques that identify the ocean-related component of broader industry investment.

Corporate GFCF in ocean industries

Following the industry classification approach in TG-3.3 Economic Activity Relevant to the Ocean, private sector GFCF can be compiled for core ocean industries and ocean-related industries.

Core ocean industries where investment is entirely ocean-related:

• Division 03 (Fishing and Aquaculture) — vessels, nets, aquaculture pens, processing equipment
• Division 50 (Water Transport) — ships, port equipment, navigation systems
• Class 0610/0620 (Offshore Petroleum) — platforms, drilling equipment, pipelines
• Offshore renewable energy — wind turbines, tidal installations, foundations

Ocean-related industries where the ocean component of investment must be estimated:

• Class 1020 (Fish Processing) — processing plants and equipment for marine products
• Class 3011/3012 (Shipbuilding) — shipyards, construction equipment, dry docks
• Class 5222 (Port Services) — cargo handling equipment, terminal facilities
• Coastal tourism — accommodation facilities with marine access, marine recreation equipment

For industries only partially related to the ocean, the methods for determining ocean-related shares described in TG-3.3 Economic Activity Relevant to the Ocean (specifically, the supply-use approach for estimating ocean ratios) can be applied to investment data. Important methodological caveats on applying GVA-derived ocean ratios to GFCF are set out in Section 3.5 Step 3.

Types of ocean-related assets

For ocean industries, relevant fixed asset categories include:

Inventories (not GFCF but relevant for ocean economy measurement):

• Work-in-progress (fish in aquaculture pens approaching harvest)
• Finished goods inventories (processed seafood products)

Table 2 provides an illustrative asset breakdown for the aquaculture sector to demonstrate how investment can be disaggregated by asset type within a single ocean industry. This template can be adapted by compilers for other ocean sectors.

Table 2: Illustrative Asset Breakdown — Aquaculture Sector Investment

WARNING — do not use as default imputations. The ranges in Table 2 are presented for orientation only. They reflect cross-country variability across species, production systems, and stages of sector development, and must not be used as default imputations where national data are absent. Compilers without national survey or registry data on aquaculture asset composition should report the disaggregation as “not available” rather than substituting these ranges, and should source actual shares from national capital expenditure surveys, aquaculture census data, or sector-specific appraisal records before publication.

Investment in environmental technologies

Corporate investment in environmental protection technologies represents a specific component of ocean-related GFCF. Such investment is sometimes called “end-of-pipe” or “integrated”. The SEEA distinguishes:

• End-of-pipe investments — technologies that treat or control emissions and discharges after they are generated (e.g., ballast water treatment systems, exhaust gas cleaning systems)
• Integrated investments — modifications to production processes that prevent or reduce pollution at source (e.g., fuel-efficient vessel designs, sustainable aquaculture systems)

These investments contribute to both ocean economy development and marine environmental protection. They sit at the nexus of the economic and environmental dimensions of ocean accounting. The SEEA notes that “estimating the expenditure on integrated investments requires consideration of the general concerns in respect of measuring adapted goods” including the challenge of defining reference technologies against which “cleaner” alternatives can be compared.

From the private investment data, the following indicators can be derived:

3.4 Sustainable Ocean Finance Indicators

Sustainable ocean finance (often termed “blue finance”) comprises financial instruments where proceeds are directed to activities that sustain or improve marine and coastal environmental conditions. This includes:

Blue debt securities — use-of-proceeds instruments — debt where proceeds are earmarked for ocean-positive activities:

• Blue bonds issued by sovereigns, corporates, or development banks
• Green bonds with marine-focused use of proceeds

Blue debt securities — performance-linked instruments (extended scope) — debt whose classification depends on the issuer’s stated ocean-related performance targets rather than the use of capital raised:

• Sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs) with ocean-related key performance indicators

Blue loans — loans where a significant share of the debtor’s activities improve marine environmental conditions:

• Loans to sustainable fisheries enterprises
• Loans for marine renewable energy projects
• Loans for coastal ecosystem restoration

Blue equity — equity investments in enterprises whose activities predominantly improve marine conditions:

• Investment in sustainable aquaculture
• Investment in ocean cleanup technologies
• Investment in marine biotechnology

The SNA recommends that sustainable finance be compiled as supplementary “of which” items within the financial accounts. That treatment allows tracking without disrupting the standard accounts structure. The classification follows Table 35.3 of SNA 2025, which distinguishes debt securities, loans, equity, and investment fund shares/units, with “of which” items for ESG and green classifications.

Distinguishing use-of-proceeds from performance-linked instruments. Blue bonds and earmarked blue loans direct identified capital to ocean-positive activities. Sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs), by contrast, have general use of proceeds with coupon step-ups (or other financial features) tied to the issuer meeting defined KPIs. An SLB with an ocean-related KPI signals issuer commitment but does not direct capital to ocean activities. If the KPI is missed, the coupon increases but the proceeds remain unaffected. For this reason:

• Use-of-proceeds instruments are recorded in the basic blue-finance scope.
• SLBs with ocean KPIs are recorded as an extended scope memorandum item, distinct from use-of-proceeds totals, and labelled as reflecting stated issuer commitment rather than confirmed capital allocation. See the ICMA Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles for the conceptual distinction.

Minimum classification protocol for blue finance instruments

In the absence of a single agreed international blue finance taxonomy, compilers should apply the following three-tier minimum classification protocol so that figures are comparable across countries and over time even before harmonisation:

At the time of drafting, no universally agreed “blue finance” taxonomy exists at the international level, although several regional standards provide partial coverage. The EU Taxonomy for sustainable activities includes technical screening criteria for activities contributing to the sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, and several other jurisdictions are developing similar standards. Compilers should document which definitions and taxonomies are applied in their compilations and monitor developments in international standard-setting for blue finance classification to support future comparability.

Linking finance to outcomes

Measurement of sustainable ocean finance is most useful when linked to environmental outcomes. The SNA 2025 notes that “to support assessments of the effectiveness of sustainable finance, it is relevant to present data on the levels of investment in ESG and green activities … alongside data about the outcomes arising from that activity”. For marine contexts, this means presenting blue finance data alongside:

• Changes in ecosystem extent (hectares of marine protected areas, mangrove coverage)
• Changes in ecosystem condition (coral reef health indices, water quality indicators)
• Changes in ecosystem service flows (sustainable fish catch, coastal protection services)

This integration is addressed in TG-3.1 Assets and TG-3.2 Flows from the Environment to the Economy. Detailed guidance on structuring project-level blue finance instruments, including blue bonds, debt-for-nature swaps, and results-based finance, is provided in TG-1.8 OA and Project-Level Finance. This Circular focuses on the indicator derivation and statistical measurement aspects. Compilers should consult TG-1.8 for instrument-specific design and structuring guidance.

TG-2.6 to TNFD / IFRS / GRI indicator crosswalk

Ocean Accounts compiled under TG-2.6 provide a macro-level baseline against which entity-level sustainability disclosures by financial institutions and corporates can be contextualised. The crosswalk below maps TG-2.6 headline indicators to the corresponding entity-level metrics in TNFD, IFRS S2, and GRI 304 (with GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 noted as the successor standard where adoption proceeds).

Entity-level reporters use TG-2.6 indicators to (i) contextualise their own ocean-related disclosures against the national baseline, (ii) report consistent jurisdictional coverage of ocean activities, and (iii) demonstrate consistency between firm-level and national investment trends. For the institutional and instrument-level dimensions of this linkage, see TG-1.7 OA and Multilateral Development Finance and TG-1.8 OA and Project-Level Finance.

These data-maturity tiers (Foundational, Developing, Advanced) describe what a compiler can produce given available data. They are distinct from, and orthogonal to, the normative scope tiers in Section 3.1 (Basic, Intermediate, Extended), which describe what to measure. The labels deliberately differ to prevent the two axes being conflated: a country at an early data-maturity stage may still target extended scope. Figure 2.6.1 depicts this data-maturity compilation pathway and the capabilities added at each tier.

Step 2: Extract GFCF data from national accounts. From the balanced national supply and use tables, extract the GFCF column for each identified ocean industry. If national SUTs aggregate industries above the ISIC class level, use supplementary business surveys or administrative records to disaggregate the relevant investment data. The GFCF column in the Use Table (see TG-3.3 Section 3.4, Table 1) provides investment by product category, and the GFCF row by industry provides investment by producing industry.

Methodological caveat. The ocean ratios in TG-3.3 are typically derived from output or GVA data. Applying them to GFCF assumes that the ocean sub-segment of a partial industry has the same capital intensity as the non-ocean sub-segment of the same ISIC class. This proportionality assumption is known to fail where the ocean sub-segment is structurally more or less capital-intensive than its non-ocean counterpart. For example, ocean-facing coastal accommodation tends to have higher per-unit capital than inland accommodation in the same ISIC class, and fish processing plants serving marine catch may differ in equipment intensity from those serving freshwater species.

For this reason:

• Preferred method. Where capital expenditure surveys, port and vessel registry investment records, or industry-specific GFCF data exist, use these to identify ocean-related GFCF directly. The GVA-ratio approach should be reserved as a fallback.
• Plausibility check. Where the ratio approach is used, compare the derived ocean GFCF share against known sub-industry characteristics (e.g., capital-output ratios for the same activity in countries with direct measurement, or against alternative sources such as port authority capital programmes) and document any material divergence.
• Quality flag. Compilers should flag the use of the GVA-derived ratio assumption as a known quality limitation in the methodological notes, consistent with the quality assessment dimensions in this section.

Step 4: Disaggregate investment by asset type. Using business survey data or administrative records (vessel registries, port authority investment plans), disaggregate ocean economy GFCF into asset categories: dwellings and buildings, other structures, transport equipment (vessels), machinery and equipment, and intellectual property products. This disaggregation follows the SNA asset classification (SNA 2025 Chapter 11) and enables analysis of the composition of ocean investment.

For integration of registry, administrative, and survey sources, see TG-4.3 Administrative Data.

Step 5: Compile government ocean investment from fiscal data. Extract government GFCF from government finance statistics, identifying ocean-related functions using COFOG classes (04.2, 04.5, 05.3, 05.4) and applying the Section 3.2 guidance for isolating the maritime component of COFOG 04.5 and avoiding GFCF/EPEA double counting. Compile government environmental protection expenditure (current and capital) for marine purposes from EPEA data sources. The methodological guidance in TG-1.1 Section 3.3 addresses the mapping of COFOG classes to ocean functions.

Step 6: Compile sustainable ocean finance indicators. Identify blue bonds, blue loans, and other sustainable finance instruments from financial market data, central bank statistics, and securities regulator records. Classify instruments using the three-tier protocol in Section 3.4 (self-labelled, verified, criteria-documented), keeping use-of-proceeds instruments and SLBs with ocean KPIs in separate rows. Document the taxonomy or criteria applied (e.g., EU Taxonomy, Climate Bonds Initiative marine criteria, ICMA blue economy guidance).

Table 3 presents a worked example showing how ocean investment indicators can be compiled and presented for a hypothetical coastal state (“Country B”). All monetary values are in millions of USD. Stocks and flows are presented in separate panels and are not directly comparable: flow measures relate to transactions during the reporting period, whilst stock measures relate to the position at end of the reporting period.

Table 3: Ocean Investment Tracking — Country B (Illustrative)

Panel A — Flow measures (during Year T)

Panel B — Stock measures (at end of Year T)

• Relevance — do the investment indicators address user needs for understanding ocean economy development?
• Accuracy — are estimates based on well-documented source data with manageable margins of error?
• Timeliness — is the data available quickly enough to inform policy decisions?
• Coherence — are ocean investment estimates coherent with broader national accounts and with other Ocean Accounts components?
• Comparability — can the data be compared across countries and over time?

A recommended reporting structure includes:

1. Summary table — headline investment indicators for the most recent period and previous periods
2. Investment by institutional sector — government versus private sector investment
3. Investment by ocean industry — disaggregated by fishing, aquaculture, shipping, offshore energy, etc.
4. Investment by asset type — structures, vessels, equipment, intellectual property
5. Sustainable finance — blue bonds, blue loans, and other purpose-classified instruments
6. Methodological notes — documentation of sources, classifications, and estimation methods

Authors: [To be confirmed]

Reviewers: [To be confirmed]

5. References and Further Reading

For additional guidance on the topics covered in this Circular, see:

• TG-0.2 Standards Overview — for the international statistical standards underpinning the investment measurement framework
• TG-1.1 Budget Processes — for guidance on government fiscal classifications and COFOG concordances
• TG-1.7 OA and Multilateral Development Finance — for guidance on using Ocean Accounts in development finance contexts
• TG-1.8 OA and Project-Level Finance — for guidance on blue bonds, debt-for-nature swaps, and other sustainable finance instruments
• TG-3.3 Economic Activity Relevant to the Ocean — for the ocean economy thematic and extended accounting framework underpinning investment measurement
• TG-6.6 Deep-Sea and ABNJ — for guidance on accounting for activities in areas beyond national jurisdiction