Ocean Economy Imperative 2026

expansion, with about $39 billion in offshore wind financing recorded in the first half of 2025 alone, exceeding the total for all of 2024.57 Goldman Sachs’ long-term framing estimated this number to rise significantly to nearly $6.6 trillion as part of the broader multi-decade net-zero investment need.58 Decarbonization: Shipping and ports The transformation of shipping toward low- and zero-emission fuels is opening new markets for green fuels, vessel innovation and digitalization. Decarbonizing international shipping is expected to require cumulative investments of approximately $1.2-1.6 trillion from 2030 to 2050, including both ship-side technologies and land-based alternative fuel infrastructure, with near-term investments focused on low-carbon fuels and vessel retrofits.59 Ports sit at the centre of this opportunity, evolving from traditional logistics hubs into energy and innovation platforms that enable clean fuel production, renewable integration, electrified operations and circular business models. Prioritizing decarbonization and nature strategies could unlock over $54 billion in cumulative cost savings and new revenue by 2030 across the port value chain,60 while cumulative modernization for electrification and shore power needs across global ports could reach $1-2 trillion by 2050.61 Digital infrastructure and digitalization The rapid expansion of the digital economy is directly relevant to the ocean economy, both through physical infrastructure – such as submarine fiber-optic cables and offshore data facilities – and through the digitilization of ocean-dependent industries. Sectors including shipping, ports and coastal industrial zones are increasingly reliant on digital systems to manage logistics. Digitilization of ports, logistics hubs and coastal industrial clusters represents a sizeable opportunity, with the global smart ports market alone estimated at $2 billion.62 Yet performance remains constrained by fragmented data, limited interoperability and weak coordination across actors. These gaps increase exposure to disruption and inefficiency across ocean-dependent value chains. Shared digital platforms, common data standards and trusted governance frameworks can reduce transaction and compliance costs, improve coordination, and enable faster responses to climate, security and supply-chain shocks. These digital solutions strengthen the long-term resilience and investability of ocean-dependent industries, while themselves offering an attractive investment opportunity. Tourism Tourism is one of the most economically significant components of the ocean economy, accounting for more than $700 billion in annual value and over half of ocean-related services.63 Within the broader tourism and travel sector, coastal and marine tourism captures a disproportionately large share, representing approximately 50% of global tourism spending.64 Coastal and marine tourism also supports a large employment base, directly and indirectly sustaining approximately 100 million jobs worldwide, equivalent to roughly 3% of the global workforce.65 Demand for coastal and marine tourism continues to grow, driven in part by rising discretionary travel and a growing preference for water-based and nature-oriented experiences.66 This shift has contributed to the expansion of ecotourism and destination models that link visitor activity with conservation and environmental awareness.67 At the same time, coastal and marine tourism is particularly vulnerable to climate and nature- related risks. Ecosystem degradation – including beach erosion, coral loss and declining water quality – can directly reduce visitor numbers and spending.68 Maintaining the economic value of these destinations therefore depends on targeted investment that supports conservation, restoration and climate resilience, while diversifying away from volume-driven growth. Emerging opportunities The next wave of the ocean economy resembles early-stage infrastructure investing: technical feasibility is increasingly clear, but commercial maturity is uneven. This creates higher perceived risk today, alongside outsized long-term option value for those that help standardize technology, reduce policy and permitting friction, and build the enabling services that make projects bankable. Emerging ocean sectors will require these to move from demonstration to commercial scale and attract sustained capital deployment (Figure 4). The Ocean Economy Imperative: Defining Value, Managing Risk and Mobilizing Investment 11