Building equitable and nature-positive blue natural capital markets
Blue natural capital (BNC) markets have the potential to address global environmental crises such as biodiversity and climate emergencies by contributing to the conservation and restoration of marine ecosystems while providing economic benefits to the owners of these ecosystems and the buyers of their services.Philanthropic and official aid fall short of the funding needed to protect and restore BNC.The resulting finance gap for nature, now approaching USD $1 trillion annually, cannot be closed without mobilizing private capital at scale.However, developing nature markets face significant challenges, including the absence of the visible hand (i.e., policy and regulation) and global coordination, along with issues related to market design, valuation, credibility, governance, and social equity.This paper recognizes and explores the complexities of establishing equitable and nature-positive BNC markets that integrate environmental, social, cultural, and economic dimensions to support market development that is both sustainable and inclusive.
Authors
- Massimiliano Neri
- Kilaparti Ramakrishna (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8409-3069)
- Stefano Pogutz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8250-1404)
- Torsten Thiele (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8725-2889)
- Sandra Damijan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1846-0294)
- Rafael Sardá (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2059-9017)
- Sylvie Goulard
- Dan Hammer
- Dinah Nieburg
- Carlos Manuel Duarte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1213-1361)
- Minna Epps
- Jordi Solà (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7351-6513)
- Ralph Chami
- Mere Takoko
- Ambra Cozzi
- Jan Pachner
- Alessa Berg
- Hyginus Leon
- Harry Wright
Institutions
- University of Ljubljana (SI)
- Williams College (US)
- Victoria University of Wellington (NZ)
- Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (ES)
- Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (LC)
- Moody's Corporation (United States) (US)
- OceanWaveS (Germany) (DE)
- Impact (CA)
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (CH)
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (US)
- Bocconi University (IT)
- University of Brighton (GB)
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (SA)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Cell Reports Sustainability
- Published
- 2026-05-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crsus.2026.100709
- Primary Topic
- Environmental, Ecological, and Cultural Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Ocean Foundation
- Università Bocconi