Last weekend, I had the opportunity to speak at the Directors’ Meeting of the Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO), a global network of leading oceanographic institutes.
The question on the table was simple but urgent: How do we finance sustained ocean observation in a world of constrained public budgets?
Governments cannot carry sustained ocean observation alone.
For decades, the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and national oceanographic institutes have been funded primarily as public goods: scientific infrastructure serving research, weather forecasting and environmental stewardship.
But the ocean is no longer only a scientific domain. It is a balance-sheet issue.
Rising sea levels, marine heatwaves, intensifying storms and ecosystem degradation are already translating into sovereign risk, municipal exposure, insurance losses and contingent liabilities. And yet the very data systems required to understand and price those risks remain chronically underfunded.
The problem is not that ocean observation lacks value. It is that we have not yet framed it correctly.
The Funding Gap
Ocean observation sits in an uncomfortable space.
It is essential for:
- Climate modelling
- Disaster preparedness
- Insurance risk pricing
- Coastal infrastructure planning
- Blue economy investment
But it rarely generates direct revenue. Its high systemic value but low direct revenue capture often means that its importance in the long value chain isn’t fully appreciated.
As a result, it is treated as a scientific budget line, rather than as economic infrastructure.
When public finances tighten, observation is vulnerable. It competes with health, education and defence. And because its value is systemic rather than transactional, it is difficult to defend politically.
The question is not whether ocean data is valuable. It is who recognises that value, and how it is monetised.
What is Unrealistic
There are recurring suggestions for alternative funding models. Many are appealing in theory but weak in practice.
Corporate sponsorship?
Too fragmented and reputationally sensitive for sustained system-wide funding.
Blue bonds earmarked for observation?
Difficult to justify unless observation is directly linked to measurable revenue or fiscal savings.
Voluntary philanthropy?
Important but insufficient for global-scale, long-term systems.
Ocean observation is not a project. It is continuous infrastructure. And infrastructure requires structural finance, not episodic support. Ocean observation remains primarily a public responsibility,
Where Leverage May Exist
If we stop treating ocean observation as environmental monitoring and start treating it as financial risk infrastructure, new pathways open.
1. Insurance and Risk Pricing
Insurance markets depend on credible baseline risk data.
Storm modelling, coastal exposure mapping and probabilistic risk analysis all rely on ocean observation inputs. Without high-quality data, premiums rise and insurability declines.
If improved ocean data reduces uncertainty and stabilises pricing, it contributes directly to financial system resilience.
The implication: insurers are indirect beneficiaries of sustained observation systems.
This does not automatically mean insurers should “pay for buoys”. But it does mean there is a clearer case for co-financing data platforms that directly enhance risk modelling quality.
One of the clearest demonstrations of ocean data as financial infrastructure comes from insurance-linked reef protection models in Mexico.
Instead of paying out after assessed damage, the policy pays automatically when a predefined environmental trigger is met; typically wind speed thresholds during hurricanes.
Here’s how it works:
- Environmental Monitoring
- Continuous hurricane tracking
- Wind speed thresholds defined by location
- Reef mapped into insured polygons
- Trigger
When wind speed exceeds the threshold, the policy is triggered automatically. - Payout
Funds are disbursed immediately — without lengthy damage assessments. - Rapid Response
Local teams repair reef structures before secondary damage compounds.
The critical link is this:
Monitoring → Trigger → Payout → Rapid Response
Without objective, remote, real-time environmental monitoring, the financial credibility of the instrument collapses.
In this case, ocean observation is not an environmental add-on. It underpins the insurance contract itself.
2. Sovereign Balance Sheets
Climate risk is increasingly a fiscal issue.
Coastal damage creates reconstruction costs, emergency spending and debt pressures. Sovereign credit ratings are affected by climate exposure.
If better ocean data reduces forecasting errors, improves early warning systems and lowers expected losses, it supports sovereign fiscal stability.
From this perspective, ocean observation underpins macroeconomic resilience. That shifts the narrative from “science funding” to “fiscal risk management”.
At the sovereign level, the frontier is embedding ocean-related indicators directly into debt structures.
Consider:
Barbados’ debt restructuring model — while not purely ocean-focused — illustrates how sovereign debt relief can be linked to environmental commitments.
Debt-for-Nature Swaps
An extension of this model could embed:
- Coastal risk metrics
- Ocean health indicators
- Adaptation performance benchmarks
into swap agreements.
Sustainability-Linked Sovereign Bonds (SLBs)
Countries such as Chile have issued SLBs tied to climate targets. Conceptually, this framework could incorporate:
- Coastal resilience indicators
- Blue carbon restoration targets
- Marine ecosystem protection metrics
If sovereign performance on ocean-related targets influences coupon payments, ocean data becomes directly financially relevant.
In other words:
Ocean health metrics → Sovereign cost of capital
That is a structural shift.
3. Development Finance Institutions
Development finance institutions (DFIs) sit at the intersection of public and private capital.
They finance ports, coastal infrastructure, fisheries reform and blue economy transitions. Each of these sectors depends on environmental data and long-term monitoring.
DFIs already support project preparation facilities and blended finance structures to de-risk early-stage investments.
Could sustained observation be embedded within those financing frameworks, not as an add-on, but as foundational enabling infrastructure?
That is a more realistic pathway than expecting markets to spontaneously fund observation as a standalone asset class.
DFIs already embed ocean and climate data within project preparation and due diligence, even if this is rarely highlighted as “ocean observation finance.”
Examples include:
- World Bank – PROBLUE & Coastal Resilience Financing
Supporting governments in integrating ocean-based adaptation and fisheries reform into financing strategies. - Asian Development Bank – Blue Economy & Climate Risk Screening
Incorporating marine and coastal risk data into investment screening frameworks. - Green Climate Fund – Early Warning & Ocean-Based Adaptation
Financing early warning systems and coastal ecosystem restoration linked to adaptation outcomes. - Inter-American Development Bank – Blue Bonds & Fisheries Reform
Supporting thematic sovereign issuances tied to ocean governance reform. - European Investment Bank – Copernicus & Blue Infrastructure
Copernicus Marine Service data feeds directly into:- Offshore wind siting
- Port resilience projects
- Coastal flood defence design
- Climate stress testing using ocean projections
- Project-level due diligence and climate alignment assessments
In each case, ocean data is not a standalone project. It reduces uncertainty, improves project bankability, and strengthens climate alignment.
The data layer makes capital more comfortable.
4. Infrastructure Framing
We routinely finance:
- Roads
- Power grids
- Telecommunications networks
We rarely classify ocean observation systems in the same category. Yet they underpin multi-billion-dollar coastal economies.
If a city relies on ports, fisheries, tourism and offshore energy, then real-time ocean intelligence is operational infrastructure.
The challenge is political recognition, not economic logic.
Some countries already treat ocean observation as infrastructure, even if they don’t use that language explicitly.
Examples:
United States – Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS)
Federally supported, continuous ocean monitoring supporting:
- Navigation safety
- Fisheries management
- Hurricane forecasting
- Maritime operations
European Union – Copernicus Marine Service
Treated as a core digital public infrastructure service, providing open-access marine data used across:
- Offshore energy
- Shipping
- Coastal defence
- Climate modelling
Japan – DONET Seafloor Cable Observatories
Japan’s tsunami early warning systems include permanent seafloor cable networks. These are financed as national disaster-prevention infrastructure.
United Kingdom – Environment Agency Tide Gauges
These systems directly inform:
- Operation of the Thames Barrier
- Coastal flood defence schemes
- National flood-risk management
No one questions whether the Thames Barrier is infrastructure. Yet the tide gauge data that allows it to function is rarely framed the same way.
It should be.
The Core Insight
Ocean observation is not an environmental input.
It is risk infrastructure.
It enables:
- Insurability
- Sovereign risk pricing
- Infrastructure planning
- Adaptation finance
- Blue economy investment
Without reliable data, capital retreats.
With credible data, risk becomes priceable.
And once risk is priceable, resilience becomes investable.
The Hard Truth
There is no silver bullet funding mechanism waiting to be unlocked.
Ocean observation will remain primarily publicly funded. That is appropriate. It is a global public good.
But the scale and stability of that funding can be strengthened if we recognise that its value extends far beyond science.
The real opportunity is not to privatise ocean observation.
It is to embed it into:
- Sovereign climate strategies
- Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
- Adaptation finance pipelines
- Insurance modelling frameworks
- Development finance programming
In other words, into economic decision-making.
A Financial Stability Lens for the Ocean
We are entering an era where climate volatility directly affects fiscal stability, creditworthiness and asset valuation.
In that context, sustained ocean observation is not optional.
It is part of the plumbing of a resilient financial system.
If avoided loss depends on credible data, then ocean observation underpins financial stability.
And once we frame it that way, the conversation shifts from “Who will fund the science?” to “How do we safeguard the infrastructure that makes our coastal economies viable?”.
That is a much stronger starting point.