GRIMALDI FORUM • MONACO : 28 > 29 May 2026
The Blue Economy and Finance Forum (BEFF) will showcase the key actors involved in developing the enabling environment that will allow investments in the millions and billions to make this blue transformation a reality.
The Blue Economy and Finance Forum is co-organised by
With the support of
The Blue Economy and Finance Forum
Protecting the ocean is a global responsibility, not only to preserve the planet’s largest carbon sink and diverse marine ecosystems, but also to support the livelihoods and economies that depend on it. For coastal nations, the ocean represents significant economic opportunities and a natural heritage. A sustainable and regenerative blue economy is essential to protect the ocean while fostering economic growth.
The OECD predicts the economic value of the ocean will surpass USD 3 trillion by 2030, making it the world’s fifth-largest economy. The ocean is crucial for global trade, food security, and the development of sustainable energy solutions such as offshore wind power and decarbonized maritime transport. Additionally, marine genetic resources present vast potential for sectors like medicine and agriculture. However, to realize this potential, international cooperation is needed to prevent resource depletion, slow ocean acidification, protect marine ecosystems, reduce overfishing, and curb ocean pollution. Ensuring fair access to the benefits of the blue economy and safeguarding marine resources is critical to creating a sustainable future.
Faced with the urgent need to protect the Ocean and fundamentally transform the economic models that depend on it, Monaco is increasingly a focal point for dialogue between international leaders in science, finance and public policy. Following the success of the 2025 Blue Economy and Finance Forum (BEFF), Monaco will host the next edition of this major event on 28–29 May 2026 at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco. The format has been revised to build on the momentum achieved during the 2025 forum.
Organised by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco, under the patronage of HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, BEFF 2026 will bring together up to 300 participants from the public and private sectors, the finance sector, and the world of philanthropy. Over two days, policymakers, business leaders, investors, banks, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and international experts will discuss existing solutions to accelerate the transition to a sustainable and regenerative blue economy.
With its plenary sessions, exhibition space, pitch sessions from innovative companies, and side events, BEFF 2026 will both provide an opportunity to track the progress of the coalitions formed during the 2025 event and promote the emergence of new opportunities for cooperation and funding.
What are Blue Economy and Finance Forum’s concrete objectives?
By gathering experts, policymakers, investors and innovators from around the world, the Forum will highlight and promote the critical role that sustainable investment, cutting-edge innovation, and forward-thinking policies play in ensuring the long-term health and prosperity of our oceans and economies alike. The BEFF will serve as a platform to exchange ideas, foster collaboration, and showcase the latest developments in the blue economy, with a clear focus on creating a resilient and thriving ocean ecosystem that benefits present and future generations.
Advisory Committee
Shaping the conversation at the intersection of ocean science, policy and finance
BEFF 2026 brings together an Advisory Committee of senior international experts operating across the full science-to-policy-to-finance continuum to help define the event’s strategic direction and editorial ambition. Spanning both the Monaco Blue Initiative and the Blue Economy and Finance Forum, the Committee brings continuity and coherence to Monaco’s foremost ocean governance platform..
Members contribute their expertise to define the questions that matter most: identifying priority themes, shaping the programme’s ambitions, and ensuring that outcomes translate into credible commitments and concrete action. Their engagement is designed to buil a coherent, long-term platform of reference on ocean governance and finance.
Karen SACK
ORRAA
Pascal LAMY
Vincent PIERIBONE
Ocean X
HIGHLIGHTS 2026 EDITION
Under the Presidency of HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, and co-organised by the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the Government of Monaco, the Forum brings together changemakers and shapers of the new blue economy spanning the ful range of finance and insurance actors, corporates and innovators, experts and policymakers from around the world.
Global Mobilisation
While the first edition of BEFF demonstrated that the ocean belongs on the balance sheet, this second edition aims to show that solutions exist and are operational, providing tangible proof that ‘it works’. The strong participation of high-level private sector actors reflects the growing momentum across the ecosystem and helps lay the foundations for BEFF to become a key annual rendez-vous for the blue economy and finance community.
45
nationalities represented
60%
representation of the private sector
23%
institutional investors, venture capital, private equity fund
20
sessions including side-events
56
high-level speakers
Building on its legacy, and delivering new pathways for action
The BEFF 2025 defined its role as a solution demonstrator and an accelerator, focusing on tangible opportunities. This approach yielded unprecedented mobilization of capital, mapping and identifying over $25 bilion in existing investments directed toward a regenerative ocean economy and securing firm new financial commitments totaling €8.7 bilion by 2030. The 2026 edition featured high-level plenary sessions, thematic side-events and pitch sessions highlighting innovative projects and technologies helping pave the way toward a regenerative and sustainable blue economy.
Unlocking Ocean Finance
Across sessions, the Blue Economy and Finance Forum 2026 pushed beyond the question of whether the blue economy is investable and into ways to finance it at scale. Sessions explored how to embed nature as a driver of cash flow inside existing financial instruments and how to close the $175 bilion annual funding gap through redirecting capital flows, pricing previously invisible ecosystem services, and rethinking the underlying rules of financial decisionmaking. A highlight was the annoucement of the creation of Amundi with Credit Agricole of a full business line for natural capital in the next 3 years to make preservation and restoration projects investable. Concrete mechanisms took centre stage throughout, from resilience bonds and biodiversity credits to parametric insurance and outcome-based funds.
Transforming the Maritime Industry
In a capital-intensive industry that operates over long cycles, the path forward combines adaptation of existing assets and innovations deployed at scale, such as wind propulsion, hul bubble technology, low-friction coatings, AI-powered routing, biofuels and alternative energy sources. These solutions wil drive gradual emission reductions on board. Discussions around green corridors between ports, such as Shanghai and Hamburg, where only clean fuels are permitted, are emerging as a concrete lever. Ports were identified as critical enablers, with the opportunity to electrify operations, integrate nature-based solutions such as mangrove protection. Participants stressed that decarbonisation must go hand in hand with broader ocean stewardship, addressing underwater noise, balast water management and impacts on marine biodiversity.
Scaling Sustainable Blue Food
With an ever growing world population, food security is becoming an imperative. Speakers agreed sustainable aquaculture must expand significantly to meet future protein demand, but that this growth must be accompanied by stronger environmental safeguards, particularly around feed production. Discussions also revolved around the importance of transparency in building consumer trust. The panel underscored the overlooked contribution of smal-scale fisheries, which provide up to 60% of the protein consumed in the Global South, and explored innovative financing mechanisms such as impact bonds and outcome-based finance to support coastal communities, biodiversity conservation, and local value chains. The seaweed sector was highlighted as a credible and growing asset class, where investment is becoming profitable.
In paralel of panel sessions and side-events, the Forum highlighted investmentready ventures. Through a dynamic dual-pitch format and an innovation corner, founders presented scalable solutions on ocean data and inteligence, restoration and protection, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, green shipping and yachting, and solutions to plastic polution. The ful list of companies is available here.
US$ 2.5 Trillion
Value generated by the marine economy here.
UNEP, Sustainable Marine Economy.
HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco
“Only one thing now stands between the Ocean and the capital it needs: the decision to act. And a delayed decision is never neutral. The cost of waiting on the Ocean is documented, it is rising, and it is paid by those who come after us. Let me be plain: I wil not ask whether the Ocean is investable. We have left that question behind us. I ask something harder. Invest in the Ocean now. Invest in it at scale. And invest in it as what it truly is – not a risk to be managed, but the defining opportunity of our time.”
Programme
The programme of the Forum will be structured around four main themes, each addressed in a dedicated plenary session.
Mobilising Capital for the Blue Economy: From Blended Finance to Scalable Investment
Mobilising private capital at scale through blended finance and aligned incentives, expanding investment in emerging and coastal economies, and positioning the blue economy as a mature, impact-driven investment opportunity.
Shipping at the Crossroads: Financing the Transition to a Low-Carbon Ocean Economy
Financing the transition to low-carbon shipping, improving regulatory clarity to reduce uncertainty, and accelerating capital deployment to position shipping as a key pillar of a resilient ocean economy.
Scaling Blue Foods: Investment Pathways for Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems
Positioning blue foods as a strategic lever for food security and growth, scaling investment in sustainable aquaculture and fisheries, and unlocking opportunities across global seafood value chains.
Anchoring the Blue Economy: Integrating Ocean Finance into Global Capital Markets
Positioning the blue economy as an asset class, building scalable investment pipelines, integrating ocean considerations into finance, and directing capital towards measurable impact.
Complementing the main sessions, the Forum will also feature curated side events designed to facilitate cross-sector exchanges, providing participants with valuable networking and changemaking opportunities. Additionally, Innovation Corners which will showcase innovative solutions and technologies that pave the way for a regenerative blue economy will offer real examples of how the principles discussed at the Forum can be translated into scalable action.
Previous Edition
The Blue Economy and Finance Forum (BEFF 2025) took place on 7 and 8 June 2025 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco as a special event of the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC). It was co-organised by the Government of Monaco, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, and the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco, with support from France and Costa Rica, bringing together global policymakers, investors, innovators and leaders to accelerate financing for a sustainable and regenerative blue economy and to advance Ocean-related climate and development goals.
Contact
The BEFF Organising Committee is actively identifying key stakeholders and participants essential to driving forward the Blue Economy. Selected individuals and organisations will receive an official invitation with registration details for this event.
The Blue Economy and Finance Forum is co-organised by
In collaboration with
With the support of
