Through the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative’s Seafood Finance Working Group, co-convened with WWF, UNEP FI has developed this manual to support financial institutions in implementing the Turning the Tide and Diving Deep sector guidance, and setting targets for the Sustainable Blue Economy.

Banks, investors and insurers are increasingly looking to assess and disclose impacts and dependencies on nature and implement impact management approaches that allow for the setting of meaningful targets to make progress on the sustainability transition. As part of this effort, there is a need to understand what key risks and impacts look like in the ocean, in alignment with the framework provided by the UNEP FI Impact Protocol, the Science-based Targets Network guidance and the recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures.

The manual enables institutions to set targets that align with the guidance and support the transition to a Sustainable Blue Economy, in line with the objectives of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement. While its primary audience is members and signatories of the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative (SBEFI), any bank, investor or insurer may adopt this manual to support implementation of the Guidance and guide target-setting for financing the SBE. Though applicable across the Guidance sectors, this document includes an annex of specific recommendations for target-setting in the seafood (fisheries and aquaculture) sector. For SBEFI signatories that are also PRB signatories, note that this manual is compatible with the PRB Nature Target Setting guidance for practice targets.