LocationsOpening remarks by Ms. Beate Trankmann at the First China International Conference for Blue Finance Innovation, Yantai
July 24, 2024
Ms. Beate Trankmann, Resident Representative of UNDP China, delivered an opening remark at the First China International Conference for Blue Finance Innovation, Yantai
谢谢沈副市长的介绍。
尊敬的郑市长，陈局长，肖行长，女士们，先生们， 大家早上好。
感谢烟台市政府与北京绿色金融与可持续发展研究院的邀请，我很荣幸代表联合国开发计划署参加本次大会。
Ladies and Gentlemen- good morning!
I am delighted to join you in the dynamic coastal city of Yantai, to discuss crucial financing for protecting a vital life source: our oceans.
These not only provide much of our oxygen, but also food and livelihoods to over three billion people around the world. They also regulate our weather and help to slow climate change.
That’s because oceans are major carbon and heat sinks. They absorb over 90 percent of the excess heat and 30 percent of carbon emissions that humans generate.
Yet, while we take this all for granted, threats like climate change, overfishing, and pollution put nearly 40 percent of our oceans at risk.
Indeed, while none of the Sustainable Development Goals to protect people and planet will be met by the 2030 deadline, Goal 14: Life Below Water, is especially far behind. Half of its targets are regressing – and 95 percent of its funding needs remain unfilled.
Yet, the world does have the finance to put the SDGs back on track. Just 1 percent of global financial assets could close the funding gap for all 17 SDGs, not just Goal 14. The real challenge therefore is how we prioritize investments and allocate them towards the SDGs.
Rescuing our oceans should not be seen as a cost, but as an opportunity for sustainable growth.
The ocean economy is worth up to 6 trillion dollars per year. That’s about 5% of global GDP. Conversely, the cost of inaction, especially in managing marine pollution, poses heavy financial risks to businesses, of potentially 100 billion dollars per year by 2040.
With stakes so high, we cannot afford to delay. It is time to accelerate our efforts and mobilize solutions at scale.
The new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, negotiated under China’s COP presidency, is key here. It marks a new era in global ocean governance and signals a shift from business-as-usual, to sustainable marine resource use, by including - for the first time - a target of protecting at least 30 percent of the world's oceans in addition to 30 percent of land surface by 2030.
Financial markets globally are also increasingly committing to conservation of the seas. In 2018, the Seychelles issued the first blue bond, raising 15 million dollars. By the end of 2023, blue bonds reached 6.8 billion dollars globally.
Seizing this momentum, UNDP supports costal countries in capitalizing on blue sector opportunities. In Cabo Verde, we helped build the world’s first blue economy sustainable financing platform. This connects Cabo Verde’s domestic market with the Luxembourg Exchange, resulting in six successful issuances, totalling 35 million Euros. It also shows the power of targeted financial instruments for scalable impact.
In China, the blue economy also continues to expand. In 2023, China’s gross ocean product reached 9.91 trillion-yuan. That’s 7.9 percent of GDP, while growing faster than the national average.
Bank of China issued Asia’s first blue bond in 2020, raising almost 1 billion dollars for marine projects. This was followed by the issuance of five Blue Bonds in China's domestic market in 2023, worth more than 3 billion dollars; highlighting the potential for blue growth in China's financial sector.
UNDP stands ready to support and broaden these efforts, through three offers of expertise:
Firstly, UNDP’s SDG Impact Standards help businesses and investors around the world embed sustainability and the SDGs into their management systems for real-world impact, including on SDG 14.
In China, we tailored these to the local context and developed the SDG Finance Taxonomy. This was piloted by New Development Bank, issuing a 5 billion RMB bond on China’s inter-bank market towards China’s green Covid-19 recovery.
Secondly, UNDP's market intelligence tool, the SDG Investor Maps, pinpoint to over 600 high-impact, bankable opportunities across 40 countries in crucial sectors, including maritime and shipping.
In China, we have issued SDG investor maps covering four critical sectors: agriculture, health, renewable energy, and the circular economy. And, we are eager to explore opportunities with all of you to develop a fifth SDG Investor Map, for the Blue Economy.
Thirdly, since 2012, our BIOFIN initiative has supported over 41 countries, including China, to develop national and local biodiversity finance plans. Through BIOFIN, Shanghai, has successfully integrated biodiversity considerations into its green finance regulations and established a green project inventory.
In Shandong, we are working with the Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, along with PBOC, to align public and private finance with biodiversity goals. We look forward to exploring collaborative opportunities with Weihai and other cities, to further localize our BIOFIN offers and support resilient, sustainable growth across Shandong’s coastal cities.
As we prepare for the Third UN Ocean Conference next year in France, today's discussions are a chance to reflect on the contributions that China and its coastal cities- like Yantai - can make towards sustainable ocean management through the innovations that are pioneered here.
I look forward to the solutions that we share and develop together. Such collaboration is vital – especially in an ocean without borders, on which we all depend.
In the words of Dr. Silvia Earle, Founder of Mission Blue:
“No water, no life. No blue, no green.”
So let’s seize this narrowing window, together, today – to save our ocean blue.
Let’s build an economy that values blue above gold.
And let’s keep the world’s promise – for a planet that can sustain generations to come... leaving no one behind – on land, or water!
谢谢大家。祝本次大会圆满成功。
United Nations Ocean Conference (2022), UN Conference Opens with Call for Urgent Action to Tackle Ocean Emergency. Available at: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2022/06/un-ocean-conference-opens-with-call-for-urgent-action-to-tackle-ocean-emergency/
5 reasons you should care about our ocean | United Nations
Ocean, Seas and Coasts | UNEP - UN Environment Programme
World Oceans Day: A call to action to save our ocean | United Nations
World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
https://unctad.org/publication/trade-and-environment-review-2023
Oceans, Fisheries and Coastal Economies (worldbank.org)
Can blue bonds hold water in the sustainable debt market? (ft.com)
First Cabo Verdean green bond listed on LuxSE | Joint SDG Fund
