The GFCR at the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 81)

UNGA 81 and Climate Week NYC provided an opportunity to move beyond high-level commitments and get specific about what is missing to turn reef conservation projects into investable programmes. Discussions with governments, philanthropies and investors focused on the practical requirements for delivery: credible evidence of impact, stronger links to national priorities, appropriate financing instruments and clear pathways to financial sustainability.

• Catalytic philanthropy: At Blue Alliance’s Philanthropy 2.0 breakfast, the Bloomberg Ocean Fund, UBS Foundation, Trafigura Foundation, Halo Foundation and BNP Paribas explored “donation with an exit” and what it would take to replicate self-financing marine protected areas. Jonathan Kelsey highlighted philanthropy’s role in taking early risks, while BNP Paribas’s Laurence Pessez stressed that measurable biodiversity, social and economic outcomes are essential to attracting follow-on investment.
• Turning national targets into investment pipelines: At the Marine Conservation Breakthroughs roundtable, Pierre Bardoux joined representatives of the COP30 and COP31 Presidencies and other partners to discuss how national reef commitments can translate into investable programmes. A pipeline of 41 coastal projects is expected to inform the COP31 Co-Investment Dialogues.
• Identifying what projects need to become investable: Bilateral discussions with governments, investors and project implementers explored the gaps that prevent promising projects from attracting capital, including the need for appropriate risk-sharing instruments, outcome-based financing and reliable ocean data. Country engagement reinforced the importance of aligning investment with national priorities and local delivery capacity.

A critical gap remains: credible monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV). Without reliable, comparable evidence of reef outcomes, investors struggle to assess impact, governments cannot easily track progress against national targets, and successful models are harder to finance at scale. GFCR is strengthening its MRV approach with in-country partners to address these gaps and help translate conservation results into investable opportunities.