The ocean economy sustains over 100 million jobs globally and is expected to contribute more than $5 trillion to the global economy by 2050. Innovative financing solutions are key to enhancing ocean and coastal preservation and increasing clean water resources, and Blue Finance has a huge potential to help realize these goals.

IFC’s Blue Finance Guidelines 2.0 (2025) offer a strengthened framework for mobilizing private capital into ocean and water‑related sustainability projects, expanding eligible sectors from water security to plastics, shipping, aquaculture, marine conservation, and coastal resilience. The updated version introduces performance‑linked features with sample KPIs and SPTs, provides practical guidance for structuring blue bonds, loans, and sustainability‑linked instruments, and maintains full alignment with international market standards. With clearer impact reporting requirements and new case studies, the guidelines aim to help financial institutions scale credible, transparent blue finance in the rapidly growing blue economy.