Investing in the Blue Economy with a Gender Lens
By Suzanne Biegel
As an impact-minded investor, you’re probably familiar with the green economy. But how much do you know about the blue economy?
Coined by Gunter Pauli in 2010, the term “blue economy” encompasses all sustainable economic activity related to the world’s oceans. But its five main pillars are aquaculture and sustainable fishing, renewable ocean energy, transportation and shipping, ocean health, and sustainable coastal tourism.
The blue economy matters when it comes to managing and mitigating climate change, as well as ensuring food security for much of the world’s population. It’s also a significant investment opportunity: according to the World Economic Forum, the world’s oceans represent an economy valued at $1.5 trillion each year.
The blue economy is on a lot of investors’ minds right now, with the US Development and Finance Corporation this week announcing a commitment to catalyze $2.5 billion in infrastructure investments aimed at reducing plastic waste and marine debris in oceans and waterways.
But the blue economy is also an arena in which women are often significantly excluded and underestimated. Women comprise large numbers of workers in the informal blue economy, cleaning up waste on beaches and working in hospitality jobs in sustainable tourism. But they are less likely to be thought of as leaders and innovators in key blue economy industries such as shipping, aquaculture, and energy.
Despite this, there are some exciting opportunities for investors who want to deploy capital with a both a blue economy and gender lens.
“there are some exciting opportunities for investors who want to deploy capital with a both a blue economy and gender lens. ”
Last week, I was invited to join the Sasakawa Peace Foundation at the Reykjavik Women’s Forum, for a conversation about the role of women in promoting a sustainable blue economy - and how investors and financial markets can fuel their efforts. I was so excited to share these bold private markets funds investing at the intersection of oceans and gender, as well as some innovative women-led and women-impact companies doing work in the blue economy.
On the funds side, I spoke about:
Circulate Capital, an investment firm focused on preventing the flow of plastic waste into the world’s oceans and building a more circular economy. Investments include Tridi Oasis, a woman-led Indonesian company specializing in recycling PET bottles into rPET flakes, which are then used in the production of packaging and textiles. Led by Rob Kaplan, their team employs a gender lens in their investments.
AiiM Partners invests in companies that are using technology to address climate change, with a focus on water, energy and agriculture. It’s run by Shally Shanker, the former Director of Mission Investing at the Schmidt Family Foundation, and has a strong oceans and gender focus.
Aqua-Spark is a global investment fund based out of the Netherlands, focused on sustainable aquaculture businesses to address the planet’s health and food security. Co-led by Amy Novogratz and Mike Velings, they don’t have an overt gender lens investment strategy, but they do have a gender-balanced investment team and investment committee, and some amazing women founders in their portfolio.
Katapult Ocean funds start-ups making a positive impact on the world’s oceans. In addition to the financial investment, each company they invest in participates in a 3-month accelerator program to support growth and impact. Five of their first 36 investments so far, have been into women-led companies.
Trail Mix Ventures, based in the US, includes a focus on the circular economy and sustainable mobility and logistics, including smart shipping technologies, along with other key themes of sustainability and well-being. Soraya Dorabi and Marina Hadjipateras have an explicit gender and racial diversity lens in their approach.
All of these funds are private markets funds, as I am yet to find an oceans fund with a gender lens in public equities. While only two, AiiM Partners, and Trail Mix are solely woman-founded, all have gender-balanced teams.
“I am yet to find an oceans fund with a gender lens in public equities”
I also spoke about some brilliant women-led businesses working in the oceans space, including:
Shiok Meats, a woman-founded, woman-led, majority woman-employee company based out of Singapore that grows clean and healthy seafood by harvesting cells instead of animals. Shiok has received investment from a number of funds in the gender lens space, including Mindshift Capital, AiiM, and Aqua-Spark.
Loliware, a US-based company and SheEO Venture that makes seaweed-based straws, to the reduce the waste from the billions of plastic straws that are used every year, many of which end up in the ocean. One 2017 study estimated that as many as 8.3 billion straws pollute the world’s beaches.
Coast 4C (formerly Net-Works) is a joint venture between Interface Carpet and the Zoological Society of London, incubated by intrapreneurs Miriam Turner and Nicholas Hill. The venture grew out of Interface’s mission to create its products using an entirely circular economy, starting by collecting used fishing nets in the Philippines and Cameroon and recycling them into yarn that that can be used in clothing, carpet, and the built environment, and through paying close attention to the lived experience of the communities they work with, evolving into a focus on climate-friendly seaweed farming.
Saathi Pads produces biodegradable pads made from banana fibre with a dual aim of reducing ocean waste and increasing access to sanitary pads in India.
Oceanium is a woman-led start-up developing food and nutrition products, as well as home-compostable bio-packaging materials, from sustainably farmed seaweed.
Bringing a gender lens to our blue investments is essential if we are going to tackle climate and sustainability in a manner that is inclusive of the needs and knowledge of the people most impacted by the climate crisis. As marine biologist and ocean justice advocate Ayana Elizabeth Johnson points out, there is a deep disjunct between the groups most impacted by climate change, and the people most often held up as experts on climate. Not engaging women and people of colour on climate activism, whether blue or green, is “a losing strategy,” she says, “because you’re not reaching out to the people who already care.”
Initiatives like The Incubation Network (TIN) are fostering a new circular economy in the ocean plastics realm in Southeast Asia. Gender lens investing think tank Criterion Institute's work with TIN is to ensure attention to issues of gender equality will not only help prevent harm, but also mitigate risks and highlight opportunities to create the economy we seek, by creating an ecosystem of actors and paying attention to power dynamics and new sources of data and insights.
Bringing a gender lens to ocean investments is essential if we want to benefit from the full intelligence and lived experience of people working and innovating in the blue economy. If we want to solve the pressing challenges around climate, sustainability, and food security, we can’t afford to be only listening to 50% of the population.