Dealing with the health of marine and coastal ecosystems is essential not only from an environmental but also from a social and economic point of view. Indeed, the oceans have a decisive impact on the economic growth as many companies and communities depend directly or indirectly on marine ecosystem resources.

What opportunities does the Ocean Economy have to offer to companies? This is the question analyzed during the webinar The Value of Ocean Sustainability for Business, organized on July 22nd by One Ocean Foundation in collaboration with SDA Bocconi, McKinsey & Company and CSIC with the contribution of relevant international speakers.

“The health of the oceans is extremely important also from an economic point of view, scientific evidence show that we must act to preserve them. Companies – the main driver of a sustainable transformation – are starting to realize this and are making progress. The target set by the IUCN to protect the 30% of marine habitats by 2030 and the 50% by 2050 is in line with this trend” said Paul Rose, OOF explorer and Ambassador.

One Ocean Foundation firmly believes in the key role played by companies in accelerating change towards a more sustainable economy. During the webinar, OOF Scientific Committee President Stefano Pogutz and Federico Fumagalli, McKinsey & Company, presented the main findings of the report “Business for Ocean Sustainability – a global perspective”. This is the latest research project carried out by OOF that investigates what companies are doing to protect marine ecosystems and highlights the need for an assessment and measurement system focuses on the impacts generated on the ocean by companies, an Ocean Disclosure Index the Foundation is working on.

Some relevant points emerged from the presentation, including:

• The Ocean Economy represents the 3.3% of the World GDP, making it the seventh largest economy in the world, and contributes 168M of jobs to the market.

• Only 26% of the companies analyzed fall into the category of “Sustainability Leaders”: those who are both aware and active on ocean sustainability issues. These companies differ from the others for the product and process innovations they adopt, as well as for their collaborative approach to the supply chain.

• 86% of the analyzed companies adopt at least one sustainability framework but to date there’s no specific index for ocean reporting. This is where One Ocean Foundation wants to be proactive.

• There’s an increasingly strong relationship between companies’ performance and their consideration of ESG issues, one more reason to push forward this sustainable transformation.