Blue Currents
May 2026
A monthly update on how finance is connecting to ocean outcomes in Canada.
Latest writing: Page 6
Latest
The Rules
Who Leads Ocean Conservation in Canada
Canada has no single authority in charge of ocean conservation. The work is split across federal departments, Indigenous governments, NGOs, and research institutes, and the org charts do not tell you where the real influence sits.
Indigenous Stewardship
Indigenous Governance and Blue Finance in Canada
In Canada, the conservation deals that actually work were built around Indigenous governance from the start, not bolted onto it afterward. That changes how governments, funders and financial institutions have to design ocean initiatives if the capital is meant to endure.
The Basics
How Blue Finance Principles Change Financial Practices
Treated as a labelling exercise, blue finance changes very little. Applied seriously, it alters how financial decisions actually get made, in ways that sit awkwardly with how most institutions already work.
The Basics
Who Sets the Rules in Blue Finance
There is no single rulebook for blue finance. Four institutions are writing the rules from four different starting points, and they agree on more than their different mandates would suggest.
The Basics
What Blue Carbon Actually Is
Blue carbon is usually pictured as mangroves and seagrass. The part that does the climate work is harder to see, and it changes what a carbon credit is actually buying.
Where Things Stand
Blue Carbon in Canada
Canada has the coastline, the ecosystems, and growing policy interest in blue carbon. What it does not have yet is a working market. That gap is where the real near-term opportunity sits.
The Players
The Canada Infrastructure Bank
Canada built one institution to finance the projects too large, too long, and too complex for ordinary lenders. Much of what it funds sits in or next to the ocean, whether the label says so or not.
Indigenous Stewardship
Wuikinuxv: Financing Salmon Stewardship
On BC's central coast, the Wuikinuxv Nation is working out whether finance can support salmon stewardship over the decades salmon actually need. The governance and the priorities are already there. The open question is whether a financing structure can be built to fit them instead of the reverse.
A Path Forward
How Blue Finance Takes Hold in Canada
Nothing new has to be built. Canadian directors already owe their duty to the corporation rather than its shareholders, the regulatory expectations are already written, and the credit tools already work. Blue finance will take hold here through those, or not at all.
The Instruments
The Ørsted Blue Bond
In 2023, the world's largest offshore wind company became the first energy firm to issue a blue bond. What the money actually funded says something about where corporate blue finance is heading.
A Path Forward
Blue Finance Doesn't Need New Machinery
Banks already know how to price changing conditions. But a seven-year loan can fund a thirty-year asset, and conditions don’t reset at the end of the term. Blue finance doesn’t need new machinery. It needs the machinery we have applied over the horizon the assets actually run on.