A Climate neutral, productive and sustainable blue economy p

The Sustainable Blue Partnership aims at boosting the transformation towards a climate-neutral, sustainable, productive and competitive blue economy by 2030, thus contributing to the third objective of the Mission Ocean. Coordinated by Italy, twenty-nine countries, together with the European Commission, are mobilising resources estimated in 450 M€ over a seven-year timeframe, to find solutions for enabling economic activities on the sea that are climate-neutral, sustainable and productive. Through this vision, the Partnership works to support key EU policy objectives of the European Green transition, digital transformation and recovery and resilience plans, and ultimately contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. It also contributes to the objectives of the Mission Restore Our Ocean and Waters.
The activities of the Partnership focus on the development and implementation of six joint transnational calls for research and innovation and market uptake of cofunded projects’ results. These, together with networking and structuring activities, target four general objectives:
- making the blue component of the transition to a green, digital and climate neutral Europe operational by 2030
- advancing sustainability and resilience of blue economy sectors, promoting joint projects that enable new blue jobs and skills and fully contributing to the wellbeing of coastal and maritime communities, also by engaging citizens
- developing innovative governance frameworks through a number of tailored actions that support a just and inclusive transition of the blue economy in key target sectors
- enabling R&I cooperation in the blue economy in Europe and beyond by a portfolio of projects and actions.
The Partnership works for achieving impact in relation to national, EU and international policy targets, according to the following pathways:
- catalyse the transformation of ocean economy value chains towards climate neutrality by 2050
- deliver ocean knowledge and impact-driven R&I for supporting smart, green, digital solutions
- enable R&I cooperation responding to international, EU and national regulations and policies.
- contribute to social and digital transition towards transformative change
In line with the priorities of its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda and the Mission’s objectives, the Partnership addresses the following areas of intervention: Digital Twins of the Ocean, Transition and coexistence of blue economy sectors, Managing sea-uses, Blue bioresources, Resilient coastal communities and businesses. Furthermore, the Partnership promotes alignment of thematic national (monitoring) programmes as well as sharing of research infrastructures and the design of an European Ocean Observing System knowledge hub. A key approach of the partnership is represented by the tight connection of the local with the global dimension through strategic engagement with the sea-basin communities, the European initiatives, as well as international organizations. From an operational perspective, joint portfolios of ongoing Mission and Partnership projects can be developed on areas of common interest such as on sustainable fisheries, carbon neutral aquaculture, wind farms (organized by the Partnership) as well as on Digital Twin of Oceans (organized by the Mission). Overall, these activities and projects are fully contributing to support the Mission achieve its objectives and targets by 2030.