Solution

The team created a tool called “Global Value at Risk Assessment”, demonstrating to investors how much they could risk if they continued their business as usual investment processes, i.e. if they kept disregarding the risks of ocean health decline in their investment decisions. 

They targeted capital market players, specific investors in publicly traded companies. Because of the intrinsic link between the declining health of the oceans and the long-term business performance of companies that are linked to the ocean, they tried to find a way to quantify investors’ risk due to these factors.

This study demonstrates what we have to lose if we continue to invest in and incentivise business as usual (BAU). It also shows what we could gain if we choose to invest in more sustainable business models that safeguard ocean resources.

The method is designed for financial institutions to identify where business is most dependent on a healthy ocean. It helps financiers assess potential future value at risk to portfolios from a changing global ocean.

Who was involved in the process?

The Oceans and the Finance Practice took the initiative and drove the process. They involved different stakeholders through empathy interviews and workshops and finally, they pitched their idea to the Innovation Funds.

WWF has partnered with Metabolic, the environmental modelling and systems change experts, who use data-driven solutions and systems thinking to tackle global sustainability challenges. 

What innovation tools did the team use?

The whole process was based on a local pilot they previously did in the Baltic Ecoregion. In this process, they conducted empathy interviews with different stakeholders, created a tangible prototype based on the stakeholders’ input that they improved based on their feedback, and finally, they created a pitch summarizing all the information about the solution.

Results

A global advocacy tool for a sustainable blue economy that provides a methodology for quantifying investors’ risks.

Learnings

In the first pilot, the team worked with a concrete portfolio fund. This was not the case in this process but it might have helped to validate the outcome. The involvement of a communication expert from the beginning could have helped the team with the communication outreach of the project.