Investing To Protect The Oceans

Through the explosive rise of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing in recent years, the “E” in ESG has been almost entirely defined by efforts to address climate and terrestrial problems. Investors wanting to leverage their capital to improve the health of the world’s oceans haven’t had an abundance of options.

But that is finally beginning to change. Some public investments such as new so-called blue bonds—the blue referring to oceans and waterways—and stocks of companies with innovative ocean-protective policies are liquid entry points for investors. Meanwhile, direct private investment options have been opening up for wealthy folks who can tolerate investment lockup periods and high minimum investments.

“ESG and impact investments directly addressing oceans are taking time to develop,” says Justina Lai, chief impact officer at Wetherby Asset Management, a San Francisco wealth management firm specializing in ESG. “But it’s an area that has garnered more interest in the past two or three years as awareness grows.”

Blue Bonds

Among the newest options are blue bonds, whose proceeds are used to fund ocean-related projects aimed at preserving and protecting the environment.

The first issuance was in 2018 by the Republic of the Seychelles to fund sustainable fisheries. More recently, Morgan Stanley underwrote the World Bank’s $10 million issuance of 30-year blue bonds.

“Our goal is to connect capital with solutions, to drive impact around issues of plastic waste,” says Matthew Slovik, head of global sustainable finance for Morgan Stanley, which in 2019 resolved to reduce and prevent 50 million metric tons of plastic waste by 2030.

Critical to the acceleration of change is making impact and ESG investments accessible to average investors. Morgan Stanley is doing its part by offering low minimum investment—$10,000—ESG portfolios that include ocean-supportive investments, Slovik says.

Private Investments

Opportunities are broadest in the private investing arena, where pioneering venture, private equity, and debt funds are channelling capital into companies with innovative ideas for addressing marine challenges.

Among them is Closed Loop Partners, a New York investment firm committed to helping build a circular economy in which products are reused and waste is eliminated before it can reach the oceans. For example, its Closed Loop Venture Fund invests in a Chilean start-up called Algramo, which creates refill stations for household products such as detergent, condiments, rice, and other staples.

Circulate Capital, a Singapore-based private investment company, similarly focuses on plastic reduction in nations including India, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Unilever are among investors in the Circulate Capital Ocean Fund, among whose underlying investments are Ricron Panels, a Gujarat, India-based recycler of plastic waste into materials for furniture and building construction, and Tridi Oasis, an Indonesian converter of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles into flakes used in packaging.

There’s great potential for growth for innovators in the blue economy, says Mark Huang, co-founder and managing director of SeaAhead, which provides a start-up platform for blue innovators and last year launched the Blue Angel Investment Group to connect investors with promising start-ups. The Paris- based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates the blue economy will double to $3 trillion by 2030.

Blue Angel’s debut was met with the challenging circumstances created by Covid-19, but by February this year had already doubled its entire 2020 capital. Among its investments: Beta Hatch, a young Seattle firm that creates feed for poultry out of mealworms, replacing the typical feed made from ground fish—a product leading to overfishing in the oceans, Huang says.

It’s go time for the highest-stakes mission at NASA in more than 50 years.

On April 1, the agency is set to launch four astronauts around the moon, the deepest human spaceflight since the final Apollo lunar landing in 1972.

The launch window for Artemis II , as the mission is called, opens at 6:24 p.m. ET.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration teams have been preparing the vehicles to depart from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on the planned roughly 10-day trip. Crew members have trained for years for this moment.

Reid Wiseman, the NASA astronaut serving as mission commander, said he doesn’t fear taking the voyage. A widower, he does worry at times about what he is putting his daughters through.

“I could have a very comfortable life for them,” Wiseman said in an interview last September.

“But I’m also a human, and I see the spirit in their eyes that is burning in my soul too. And so we’ve just got to never stop going.”

Wiseman’s crewmates on Artemis II are NASA’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

Photo: NASA’s Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft being rolled out at night. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images

What are the goals for Artemis II?

The biggest one: Safely fly the crew on vehicles that have never carried astronauts before.

The towering Space Launch System rocket has the job of lofting a vehicle called Orion into space and on its way to the moon.

Orion is designed to carry the crew around the moon and back. Myriad systems on the ship—life support, communications, navigation—will be tested with the astronauts on board.

SLS and Orion don’t have much flight experience. The vehicles last flew in 2022, when the agency completed its uncrewed Artemis I mission .

How is the mission expected to unfold?

Artemis II will begin when SLS takes off from a launchpad in Florida with Orion stacked on top of it.

The so-called upper stage of SLS will later separate from the main part of the rocket with Orion attached, and use its engine to set up the latter vehicle for a push to the moon.

After Orion separates from the upper stage, it will conduct what is called a translunar injection—the engine firing that commits Orion to soaring out to the moon. It will fly to the moon over the course of a few days and travel around its far side.

Orion will face a tough return home after speeding through space. As it hits Earth’s atmosphere, Orion will be flying at 25,000 miles an hour and face temperatures of 5,000 degrees as it slows down. The capsule is designed to land under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean, not far from San Diego.

Water photo: NASA’s Orion capsule after its splash-down in the Pacific Ocean in 2022 for the Artemis I mission. Mario Tama/Press Pool

Is it possible Artemis II will be delayed?

Yes.

For safety reasons, the agency won’t launch if certain tough weather conditions roll through the Cape Canaveral, Fla., area. Delays caused by technical problems are possible, too. NASA has other dates identified for the mission if it doesn’t begin April 1.

Who are the astronauts flying on Artemis II?

The crew will be led by Wiseman, a retired Navy pilot who completed military deployments before joining NASA’s astronaut corps. He traveled to the International Space Station in 2014.

Two other astronauts will represent NASA during the mission: Glover, an experienced Navy pilot, and Koch, who began her career as an electrical engineer for the agency and once spent a year at a research station in the South Pole. Both have traveled to the space station before.

Hansen is a military pilot who joined Canada’s astronaut corps in 2009. He will be making his first trip to space.

Koch’s participation in Artemis II will mark the first time a woman has flown beyond orbits near Earth. Glover and Hansen will be the first African-American and non-American astronauts, respectively, to do the same.

What will the astronauts do during the flight?

The astronauts will evaluate how Orion flies, practice emergency procedures and capture images of the far side of the moon for scientific and exploration purposes (they may become the first humans to see parts of the far side of the lunar surface). Health-tracking projects of the astronauts are designed to inform future missions.

Those efforts will play out in Orion’s crew module, which has about two minivans worth of living area.

On board, the astronauts will spend about 30 minutes a day exercising, using a device that allows them to do dead lifts, rowing and more. Sleep will come in eight-hour stretches in hammocks.

There is a custom-made warmer for meals, with beef brisket and veggie quiche on the menu.

Each astronaut is permitted two flavored beverages a day, including coffee. The crew will hold one hourlong shared meal each day.

The Universal Waste Management System—that’s the toilet—uses air flow to pull fluid and solid waste away into containers.

What happens after Artemis II?

Assuming it goes well, NASA will march on to Artemis III, scheduled for next year. During that operation, NASA plans to launch Orion with crew members on board and have the ship practice docking with lunar-lander vehicles that Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have been developing. The rendezvous operations will occur relatively close to Earth.

NASA hopes that its contractors and the agency itself are ready to attempt one or more lunar landing missions in 2028. Many current and former spaceflight officials are skeptical that timeline is feasible.

Investing To Protect The Oceans

Why investing in ‘blue-bonds’ could pay.

The lunar flyby would be the deepest humans have traveled in space in decades.