Where Things Stand
Canada has no federal protocol for coastal carbon and no settled answer to who would own a credit. What would have to be in place before a Canadian salt marsh or eelgrass meadow could sell carbon, and why Australia's protocol did not solve it.
The Players
The Canada Infrastructure Bank lends federal capital at rates no commercial lender can match, but only to projects that generate revenue. A CAD 1 billion loan to BC Ferries shows what that buys, and the revenue test explains which ocean assets it can reach and which it cannot.
Indigenous Stewardship
The ’Wuìk̓inux̌v Nation and Coast Funds worked through 2025 and into 2026 assessing how to finance salmon stewardship on the central coast, including a salmon impact bond. What they are exploring, and how far the work has progressed.
A Path Forward
Fishing and trapping accounted for CAD 1.414 billion of Canadian bank lending in the first quarter of 2026, against CAD 58.983 billion for agriculture. The rest of a bank's ocean exposure is booked under whatever the borrower happens to be, and no supervisory return asks anyone to add it up.
In Practice
Ørsted borrowed EUR 100 million in 2023 and called it a blue bond. It took until the end of 2025 to allocate, none of it reached sustainable shipping, and the reports never say what any project cost.
Taking Stock
In 2024, more than 250 Canadian financial institutions mapped their loan books against flood and wildfire hazard. What that exercise could see, and what it could not, is the more useful guide to where blue finance stands.
In Practice
Seychelles raised USD 15 million in 2018 and carried a cost of funds of 2.8 percent. Following the money through the guarantee, the concessional loan and the two funds it capitalized shows which parts worked.
The Rules
Antarctica is the one place where governments negotiated a full regime for mining, spent six years on it, and then walked away and banned the activity instead.
The Rules
The High Seas Treaty, formally the BBNJ Agreement, creates the first process for protecting biodiversity in the two-thirds of the ocean beyond any country's jurisdiction. It entered into force in January 2026. What it can do, what it cannot, and why Canada is not yet a Party.
Stressors
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not a floating island of bottles and bags. By count it is mostly tiny fragments, but by weight more than half is nets, ropes and fishing lines. How that material gets there explains what the patch really is.
Where Things Stand
Canada built the financing structure the conservation world now copies, and it works. It also set out to establish sixteen new marine protected areas by 2025 and established one. The part of that shortfall money could have fixed is smaller than it looks.
The Basics
The term blue economy was argued into existence in 2011 by countries that are mostly on the water. It took another seven years to become something an investor could buy.