Pollution protection: the world’s oceans are at risk
To achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 14, an annual global financing gap of around USD 150 billion needs to be filled. KfW Group is doing its part to close this gap.
Among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), SDG 14, “Life Below Water”, is one of the most underfinanced internationally. Protecting the world’s oceans is essential to biodiversity, food security and a range of economic sectors such as fishery. Experts estimate that an annual financial gap of around USD 150 billion needs to be filled if the targets of SDG 14 are to be achieved by 2030, the target year. However, it is not only more money that is needed, but also international cooperation in order to bring the funds provided from donor countries together with the needs in the partner countries as efficiently as possible.
“The oceans of the world are currently suffering from three major challenges,” explained Kai Wiegler, marine conservation expert at KfW Group. “For one thing, overfishing has now become a serious problem. More than 90% of the world’s fish stocks are considered to be fully exploited or already overfished. Pollution – both from wastewater and from solid waste, predominantly plastic waste – is also a major problem. Finally, climate change is putting a strain on the oceans. The water is getting warmer, which causes corals to die and the habitats of many creatures to shift, for example.”
The water is getting warmer, which causes corals to die and the habitats of many creatures to shift, for example.
Problem: solid waste and wastewater
The sharp increase in the consumption of single-use plastic products and packaging globally, together with a lack of solid waste and wastewater management, has led to a heavy burden on the oceans. To tackle the waste problem, KfW founded the Clean Oceans Initiative (COI) in 2018 together with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Agence Française de Développement (AFD). Since then, other European partners have joined, such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the development banks of Italy and Spain. The initiative primarily addresses plastic waste in developing countries and emerging economies. To combat this issue, the participating institutions doubled the commitment target in February 2022 from the original EUR 2 billion to EUR 4 billion by 2023.
By the end of 2022, KfW alone had contributed around EUR 882 million. “We have supported 25 international projects to date,” said Dr Helmut Schön, sector economist and COI coordinator at KfW Development Bank. “The spectrum ranges from wastewater projects in Costa Rica and South Africa to projects to promote circular economy in the Caribbean and waste management projects in Egypt and Indonesia.”
Every year, more than eight million tonnes of plastic waste end up in the ocean. This solid waste threatens estuaries, coral reefs, fish and millions of people who live off the sea. Many places, particularly in developing countries and emerging economies, lack regulated wastewater and waste disposal. This is precisely where the COI comes in. The COI improves people’s living conditions and contributes to protecting the oceans.
Mission Possible: everwave
With an innovative idea, the Aachen-based company everwave GmbH is helping to reduce plastic waste in the oceans. The company, founded at the end of 2018, received the “KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award” for these efforts in 2021. The idea: as plastic waste often ends up in the ocean via rivers, the solid waste is collected from the rivers before it can reach the ocean. In its Cleanup Missions, everwave uses two techniques: a) a self-developed stationary platform system that uses the river’s current to direct and collect plastic waste , and b) garbage collection boats that can collect up to 20 tonnes per day and thus clean up bigger waste hotspots. The company has also developed innovative recycling strategies for marine and river waste that can be used to recycle the collected material.
Caribbean: reducing solid waste, safeguarding species
Launched in 2012, the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF) is dedicated to conservation in the Caribbean – one of the most species-rich regions in the world. More than 3,000 different animal species live here, including endangered sea turtles and rare species of birds and mammals. “The regional fund subsidises conservation measures in the region in cooperation with national nature conservation funds,” explained Vanessa Hartmann, Portfolio Manager for Biodiversity and Natural Resources at KfW Development Bank. “We enable long-term financing in the participating countries and territories through this scalable financing platform, thus securing the operation of protected areas, for example.” The goal: to protect wildlife and reduce pollution. KfW is thus also meeting the objectives of the UN Biodiversity Conference held in Montreal, Canada, in December 2022, which envisages a significant expansion of protected areas on land and in the oceans – by a factor of four for the latter.
In October 2022, KfW agreed to set up a facility for the circular economy and marine conservation at the CBF, thereby bridging the gap to the Clean Oceans Initiative. Hartmann: “Unfortunately, plastic waste is increasingly joining the many creatures swimming in Caribbean waters. After the Mediterranean, the Caribbean is the most polluted sea in the world today.” With the specific addition of the circular economy component to the CBF, projects on waste management and recycling are promoted in order to decrease the influx of plastic into the ocean. In addition, solid waste already present is to be collected on the beaches and in the sea and properly disposed of or recycled. “Plastic waste is not only a problem in the Caribbean, but also poses a specific threat to biodiversity,” said Hartmann.
“Unfortunately, plastic waste is increasingly joining the many creatures swimming in Caribbean waters. After the Mediterranean, the Caribbean is the most polluted sea in the world today.”
Blue Action Fund’s five-year anniversary
South Africa, Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica – these are the four largest of 16 countries whose coasts are currently benefiting from the work of Blue Action Fund. The marine protection fund celebrated its five-year anniversary in 2022. This fund, which is organised as a charitable trust, aims to protect marine biodiversity. In doing so, it consciously cooperates with non-governmental organisations in these countries, which are familiar with the local area and manage the projects. Marine protected areas are established and maintained with the help of the fund.
Read more about Blue Action Fund on its website or in our KfW story from June 2020.
KfW has significantly increased its funding for marine conservation in recent years with projects such as the Clean Oceans Initiative, the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, Blue Action Fund and many other instruments. In this way, we are making an increasingly greater contribution to achieving UN SDG 14. European partner organisations are involved in numerous projects and thus increase the impact.
