Ocean Accounts and Private Sector Decision-Making

1. Outcome

After reading this Circular, corporate sustainability officers, chief risk officers, and ocean-sector business analysts will be able to use Ocean Accounts as a structured data source for private sector decision-making—including nature-related financial disclosure, supply chain risk assessment, capital allocation, and corporate strategy. The Circular explains how nationally compiled Ocean Accounts translate into enterprise-relevant signals about ocean-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities.

2. Requirements

Essential prerequisites:

• TG-0.1 General Introduction to Ocean Accounts—for the conceptual framework, key components, and scope of Ocean Accounts

Helpful background:

• TG-1.7 OA and Multilateral Development Finance—for the disclosure framework context (TNFD, IFRS S1) and how development finance institutions engage with ocean data; Section 3.4 and 3.10 of TG-1.7 are directly relevant
• TG-1.8 OA and Project-Level Finance—for project-level instrument structuring (blue bonds, PES, debt swaps) and TNFD alignment at the asset level
• TG-2.6 Ocean-related Investment—for ocean investment indicator compilation and the GFCF framework that underlies sustainable finance product design

3. Guidance Material

3.1 Why Ocean Accounts Matter for the Private Sector

Private sector actors are ocean-dependent across a wider range of industries than is commonly recognised. The ocean economy—encompassing fisheries, aquaculture, marine transport, offshore energy, coastal tourism, marine biotechnology, and coastal construction—accounts for approximately USD 1.5 trillion of value added per year globally (2010 baseline estimate), supporting over 30 million full-time equivalent jobs.^[1] The economy-wide dependencies extend well beyond these direct-use sectors, as documented in TG-2.2 Macro-economic Dependencies on Ocean Ecosystems. Marine and coastal ecosystems supply services that underpin land-based economic activities: coastal ecosystems provide storm and flood protection that reduces insurance losses and infrastructure costs; ocean carbon cycling regulates climate stability that shapes agricultural productivity; marine biodiversity underpins pharmaceutical discovery; and ocean fisheries supply protein that supports global food system resilience.

The TNFD defines nature-related risks as "the potential threats posed to an organisation as a result of its or others' dependencies and impacts on nature."^[2] These risks manifest as:

• Physical risks—disruptions to business operations and supply chains arising from ecosystem degradation (e.g., coral reef decline reducing coastal protection, marine pollution undermining aquaculture production, fisheries stock collapse affecting food processors)
• Transition risks—policy, regulatory, and market changes as societies respond to nature loss (e.g., carbon pricing, marine protected area expansion, sustainable fisheries certification requirements)
• Systemic risks—non-linear and potentially catastrophic shifts in ecosystem function that exceed the adaptive capacity of individual firms and financial systems

Ocean Accounts provide the systematic baseline data against which these risks can be assessed, compiling spatially explicit stock and flow information about ocean natural capital at the national and subnational level—the scale at which physical and transition risks originate.

3.2 The TNFD LEAP Framework Applied to Ocean Contexts

The TNFD recommends that organisations use its LEAP process (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare) to identify and assess nature-related issues across their business activities and value chains.^[3] Each phase of LEAP can be structured using Ocean Accounts data.

3.2.1 Locate—Identifying Business-Ocean Interfaces

The first LEAP phase requires identifying where in the world business activities and value chains interact with ocean and coastal ecosystems. Ocean Accounts support this phase through:

• Ecosystem extent accounts: Nationally compiled spatial data on the distribution of marine habitat types (mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass meadows, open ocean, shelf ecosystems) against which business facility locations and sourcing geographies can be overlaid
• Priority area identification: TNFD recommends identifying locations in or adjacent to biodiversity-sensitive areas, including marine protected areas and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs).^[4] Ecosystem extent accounts compiled within national Ocean Accounts frameworks typically incorporate protected area boundaries and can be queried to determine whether business activities fall within or near ecologically significant zones
• Catchment-to-coast linkages: Many ocean-affecting business activities occur inland. Residual flow accounts in Ocean Accounts track nutrient and pollutant loads reaching coastal waters, enabling firms with upstream agricultural, industrial, or urban operations to assess their downstream ocean footprint

3.2.2 Evaluate—Assessing Dependencies and Impacts

The second LEAP phase evaluates the nature of the firm's dependencies on, and impacts to, ocean ecosystems at the identified interfaces. Ocean Accounts support this phase through two complementary pathways. The account types referenced here are compiled using the methods described in TG-3.1 Asset Accounts.

Dependency assessment draws on ecosystem service supply and use tables to quantify the contribution of marine natural capital to business inputs. Key dependency types for ocean-adjacent sectors include:

Table 3.2.2: Ocean ecosystem dependencies by sector and relevant Ocean Account components.

Impact assessment draws on physical flow accounts (pressures) to quantify the firm's contribution to changes in ocean ecosystem state. The TNFD defines impacts as "changes in the state of nature (quality or quantity), which may result in changes to the capacity of nature to provide social and economic functions."^[5] Ocean Accounts record the aggregate pressure signals—total nutrient loading, total extraction volumes relative to sustainable yield, total extent change—against which individual firm contributions can be contextualised. For firms where ecosystem impacts require formal assessment, the methodological bridge between project-level environmental impact assessment and nationally compiled account baselines is described in TG-1.6 OA and Environmental Impact Assessment.

3.2.3 Assess—Quantifying Nature-Related Risks and Opportunities

The third LEAP phase translates dependency and impact findings into material risks and opportunities. Ocean Accounts support risk quantification in two ways.

Trend-based risk signals: Time-series accounts reveal whether ocean natural capital is stable, declining, or recovering. A firm whose supply chain depends on coral reef-based tourism can read declining coral condition indicators—compiled across national extent and condition accounts—as a direct signal of increasing physical risk to its revenue base, without needing to commission bespoke environmental monitoring.

Valuation of service dependencies: Monetary ecosystem service accounts compile exchange-value estimates of the economic contribution of marine natural capital to production. These valuations provide a basis for estimating the financial exposure attributable to ecosystem degradation. A coastal hotel group can, for example, use the replacement cost of coral reef coastal protection services (compiled in condition and monetary accounts) to estimate the insurance and capital costs it would face if reef degradation removes that natural protection.

Alongside risk quantification, the Assess phase identifies nature-related opportunities. For private sector actors, ocean-related opportunities include:

• Access to sustainable ocean finance products (blue bonds, nature performance bonds) that offer preferential terms to borrowers demonstrating credible ocean stewardship data, as described in TG-1.8 OA and Project-Level Finance
• Market access and reputational premiums for sustainable seafood certifications backed by Ocean Account condition indicators
• New revenue streams from blue carbon markets, nature-based solutions, and ecosystem service payments
• Cost reduction through supply chain resilience built on ecosystem health rather than degrading natural capital stocks

3.2.4 Prepare—Strategy, Disclosure, and Targets

The fourth LEAP phase translates assessment findings into disclosures, strategies, risk management actions, and targets. Section 3.3 addresses disclosure frameworks; Section 3.4 addresses capital allocation and targets.

3.3 Corporate Disclosure: TNFD, IFRS S1, and CSRD

Three parallel disclosure trajectories—voluntary (TNFD), standards-based (IFRS), and regulatory (CSRD/ESRS)—are converging toward a common set of requirements. Ocean Accounts compiled at the national level provide the population-level data that makes corporate disclosures internationally comparable and independently verifiable.

3.3.1 TNFD Recommended Disclosures

The TNFD September 2023 recommendations specify 14 disclosures structured around four pillars: Governance, Strategy, Risk and Impact Management, and Metrics and Targets.^[6] For ocean-dependent or ocean-affecting businesses, the most material disclosures map directly onto Ocean Account components. The table below shows the disclosures of greatest relevance to ocean contexts; firms should consult the full TNFD recommendations for the complete set of 14 required disclosures.

Table 3.3.1: TNFD recommended disclosures most relevant to ocean-dependent businesses (selected from the full set of 14 recommended disclosures).

The two Governance disclosures (Gov A: Board oversight of nature-related issues; Gov B: Management's role in assessing and managing nature-related issues) are structural governance requirements that apply uniformly across all sectors and are not specific to Ocean Account data inputs. Similarly, Risk B (nature risk management processes), Risk C (impact management processes), and Risk D (indigenous and community engagement) describe internal management systems rather than ecosystem data requirements, and are omitted from the table. The six disclosures shown above are those where Ocean Account data provides the most direct input.

The TNFD also defines additional global disclosure metrics relevant to ocean contexts, including metrics for water quality, marine ecosystem extent, and the value of sustainable finance instruments.^[7] Ocean Account condition and extent tables provide a direct data source for these metrics, converting nationally standardised environmental monitoring data into enterprise-level disclosure inputs.

Sector-specific TNFD pathways: The TNFD has published sector-specific additional guidance for a range of sectors including aquaculture, fisheries, marine transport, and coastal infrastructure, among others. These sector pathways cross-reference SEEA EA concepts directly, making Ocean Accounts a natural data input to sector-aligned TNFD reporting.

3.3.2 IFRS S1 and Nature-Related Financial Information

IFRS S1 (General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information), issued June 2023 and effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2024, establishes that sustainability-related information should be material to the primary users of general-purpose financial reports—investors, lenders, and other creditors.^[8] Application is voluntary or jurisdiction-dependent, as national adoption by securities regulators is required for mandatory application. Nature-related dependencies and impacts qualify as material when they affect an entity's cash flows, access to finance, or cost of capital. (IFRS S2 on climate-related financial information is a separate standard; for ocean-climate accounting connections, see TG-2.8 Climate Change Indicators.)

For ocean-dependent businesses, material nature-related information under IFRS S1 typically includes:

• Value chain dependencies: Quantified reliance on marine provisioning services (fish stock productivity, water quality for aquaculture) that generate revenue or underpin cost structures
• Physical risk exposure: Estimated financial exposure to ecosystem degradation translating into supply disruption, infrastructure damage, or increased operating costs
• Transition risk exposure: Revenue at risk from marine resource use regulation, sustainable certification requirements, or carbon pricing affecting ocean industries
• Opportunities: Quantified upside from sustainable ocean finance, ecosystem service revenues, and nature-positive supply chain premiums

Ocean Accounts provide the population-level time series against which entity-level IFRS S1 disclosures can be contextualised and verified.^[9]

3.3.3 CSRD Double Materiality and Ocean Dependencies

The European Union's CSRD (in force from January 2024 for large listed companies, with phased application extending to 2026 for smaller in-scope entities) requires companies to conduct a double materiality assessment: evaluating both how sustainability matters affect the company (financial materiality) and how the company affects sustainability matters (impact materiality).^[10] The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) elaborate specific requirements for biodiversity and ecosystem-related disclosures under ESRS E4 (Biodiversity and Ecosystems).

ESRS E4 requires disclosure of:

• Material locations where business activities interface with biodiversity-sensitive areas
• Drivers of biodiversity change attributable to business activities (land and sea use change, pollution, resource use, invasive species, climate change)
• Targets and metrics related to ecosystem extent and condition

Ocean Accounts compiled for coastal and marine areas provide a direct data source for ESRS E4 compliance by European companies with ocean-facing operations or supply chains. Condition indicators from national ecosystem accounts can populate the ecosystem condition metrics required under ESRS E4, while extent accounts document changes in marine habitat area attributable to sectors in which a company operates.

3.4 Supply Chain Ocean Risk Assessment

For many firms, the most material ocean-related risks arise not in direct operations but in supply chains. Global supply chains for seafood, agricultural commodities, raw materials, and manufactured goods intersect with ocean ecosystems through production locations, shipping routes, port infrastructure, and water use. Ocean Accounts enable firms to map and quantify supply chain exposure to ocean ecosystem risk.

Mapping supply chain exposure: The first step in supply chain ocean risk assessment is identifying which supply chain nodes interact with ocean or coastal ecosystems. For seafood and aquaculture supply chains, direct identification is straightforward; for other commodity supply chains, the interactions are often indirect (coastal port exposure, river-to-ocean nutrient loading from agricultural inputs, offshore industrial effluent). Ocean Accounts—particularly residual flow accounts and extent accounts—provide the spatial context needed to assess where supply chain node geographies coincide with ecologically significant or deteriorating marine areas.

Quantifying exposure: Once supply chain nodes are mapped to ocean ecosystem contexts, condition and trend data from Ocean Accounts enable quantification of:

• The share of sourcing volumes exposed to declining ecosystem conditions
• The proportion of supply chain nodes located in areas where national accounts show increasing pressure relative to carrying capacity
• The time horizon over which current extraction or land-use trajectories are consistent with sustainable ecosystem function, based on trends in stock accounts

Industry-specific applications: The following sectors illustrate how supply chain ocean risk assessment draws on specific Ocean Account components:

Seafood and aquaculture: Fish stock accounts and ecosystem condition indicators compiled within national Ocean Accounts frameworks provide the most direct and comprehensive data source for assessing fishery health. Condition indicators including spawning stock biomass, mean trophic level, and the proportion of stocks fished within sustainable limits are derivable from well-compiled national accounts. Firms can use these indicators to segment their sourcing portfolio by sustainability risk, informing supplier engagement and procurement policy.

Agricultural commodities: Crops grown in coastal watersheds contribute to coastal eutrophication through fertiliser runoff. National residual flow accounts track nutrient loads reaching coastal waters at the catchment level. Firms sourcing from coastal agricultural regions can use these accounts to identify high-risk sourcing areas and engage suppliers on nutrient management practices.

Marine transport and logistics: Port infrastructure faces increasing physical risk from sea level rise, intensified storm events, and coral reef degradation (which affects wave attenuation). Coastal infrastructure accounts and regulating service flow accounts compiled within national Ocean Accounts frameworks document trends in coastal protection service capacity, providing logistics operators with a basis for assessing port-level physical risk exposure.

Financial services (insurance and lending): Insurers and lenders with portfolios exposed to coastal real estate, fisheries, aquaculture, or marine infrastructure face physical and transition risk from ocean ecosystem change. Ocean Accounts compiled at the national level provide the standardised, time-series ecosystem trend data that enables portfolio-level screening for nature-related risk concentration. Banks and asset managers also face lender liability risk where financing is extended to borrowers whose operations contribute to marine ecosystem degradation; Ocean Account pressure data can inform pre-lending due diligence and ongoing portfolio monitoring for such exposures.

3.5 Connecting National Ocean Accounts to Corporate Reporting

A central challenge for private sector users of Ocean Accounts is the scale mismatch: national accounts are compiled at country or large subnational levels, while corporate reporting typically requires asset-level or site-level data.

3.5.1 Spatial Disaggregation

Ocean Accounts increasingly use spatially explicit methods that enable national totals to be disaggregated to relevant reporting scales. Extent accounts compiled from satellite-derived habitat maps are inherently spatial; condition accounts based on point-sample monitoring data can be interpolated spatially; monetary service flow accounts compiled using spatially-varying unit value tables can be disaggregated by ecosystem patch.

Firms can apply geographic overlay analysis—intersecting their asset locations or sourcing geographies with spatially disaggregated Ocean Account outputs—to derive site-level estimates from national accounts. The precision of this approach depends on the spatial resolution of the underlying national account compilation; firms should engage with national statistical offices or ocean management agencies to understand what spatial disaggregation is feasible for the relevant country and ecosystem type.

3.5.2 Attribution and Contribution Analysis

Even where spatially disaggregated account data is available, attributing a share of national ecosystem service flows or stock changes to an individual firm requires an attribution methodology. For provisioning services with established harvest reporting (commercial fisheries, aquaculture), catch volumes reported by the firm can be expressed as a proportion of total national extraction, providing a basis for attributing a corresponding share of ecosystem service use. For regulating and cultural services, attribution is more complex; contribution analysis—expressing the firm's dependence on or contribution to an ecosystem function as a function of its physical presence and activity intensity at the relevant location—provides a practical approximation.

The TNFD sector guidance and the emerging Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) methods provide or are expected to provide attribution guidance relevant to the ocean realm; firms should consult current SBTN documentation for the status of ocean-specific methods. Ocean Accounts provide the denominator data (total national ecosystem service supply) against which firm-level contributions or dependencies can be expressed as a proportion.

3.5.3 Temporal Alignment

National Ocean Accounts are compiled on an annual or multi-year basis. Corporate reporting cycles (annual reports, sustainability reports) require current-year data. In countries with regular account compilation cycles, firms can typically access recent-period account data; in countries where accounts are less frequently updated, firms may need to extrapolate from the most recent compilation using supplementary indicator data or to flag the data vintage in their disclosures. Firms should document the data vintage and spatial resolution of Ocean Account data used in disclosures, consistent with IFRS S1 requirements for transparency about data quality and limitations.^[11]

3.6 Capital Allocation and Ocean Opportunity

Sustainable ocean finance access: As described in TG-1.8 OA and Project-Level Finance, blue bonds, sustainability-linked bonds, and debt-for-nature instruments offer preferential financing terms to borrowers whose activities demonstrate credible, measurable ocean stewardship. Firms that have already conducted Ocean Account-grounded dependency and impact assessments are well-positioned to access these instruments, because the baseline and monitoring data required by instrument covenants is already compiled. The investment indicator framework in TG-2.6 Ocean-related Investment describes how ocean-related investment is tracked at the national level, providing context for benchmarking firm-level capital allocation against national and sectoral trends.

Ecosystem service revenue: In jurisdictions with active payment for ecosystem services (PES) schemes or carbon markets, firms that protect or restore coastal and marine ecosystems can generate revenue from ecosystem service payments. Ocean Accounts underpin the baseline and additionality assessments required by PES and carbon market protocols. Firms operating in the aquaculture, coastal tourism, or offshore energy sectors frequently have the spatial presence and management authority over coastal and marine ecosystems that is required to participate in PES and blue carbon markets, as further described in TG-6.2 Mangrove and Coastal Wetland Accounting.

Biodiversity offsetting: In jurisdictions where regulatory or voluntary frameworks require businesses to offset residual biodiversity impacts, Ocean Account condition and extent data provide the measurement baseline needed to quantify impact and verify the ecological integrity of offset sites—specifically, national ecosystem condition indicators serve as the reference state against which the additionality of proposed offset activities is assessed. This application is growing as national regulators adopt no-net-loss or net-gain policies for marine development, creating a demand for standardised, independently verifiable baseline data that national Ocean Accounts are well placed to supply.

Nature-positive supply chain premiums: Consumer markets increasingly reward sustainable sourcing through certification premiums (Marine Stewardship Council, Aquaculture Stewardship Council) and retailer procurement preferences. Ocean Account condition indicators aligned with certification sustainability criteria—particularly fish stock status and ecosystem condition—can provide the third-party verifiable baseline data that certification bodies increasingly require.

Strategic positioning in the nature economy: The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) Target 15 calls on businesses and financial institutions to regularly monitor, assess, and transparently disclose nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities by 2030.^[12] The GBF also sets Target 19 to mobilise at least USD 200 billion per year for biodiversity finance by 2030, from all sources (public and private), with private sector mechanisms expected to contribute a growing proportion of this total.

3.7 Horizon Scan: Emerging Applications

Several application areas are at early-stage development but are likely to become material within the planning horizon of major corporations and financial institutions. Methods and markets are still developing; the degree to which Ocean Accounts will fulfil these roles depends on continued investment in national account compilation and private sector capacity.

Portfolio-level nature risk screening: Asset managers and institutional investors are beginning to develop ocean-specific portfolio screening tools that draw on national ecosystem trend data to identify listed equities and debt securities with material exposure to ocean ecosystem deterioration. Ocean Accounts could provide the spatial and temporal baseline data needed to populate these screening tools with country-level and regional ecosystem condition information, supplementing the company-level disclosure data that currently dominates ESG screening—though the integration of national account data into commercial screening platforms remains at an early stage.

Nature-related stress testing: Financial supervisors in several jurisdictions are exploring nature-related scenario analysis and stress testing requirements, analogous to climate-related stress tests. Ocean ecosystems feature prominently in these scenarios—particularly coral reef collapse, fisheries stock depletion, and sea level rise affecting coastal collateral. Ocean Accounts time-series data may inform the physical scenario inputs for ocean-realm stress tests, potentially providing statistically grounded trajectories of ecosystem change, where sufficiently compiled and temporally consistent national series exist.

Supply chain due diligence regulation: The EU Deforestation Regulation and emerging due diligence frameworks in other jurisdictions are creating legal obligations for firms to demonstrate that supply chains do not contribute to ecosystem destruction, including marine ecosystem degradation. Ocean Accounts could provide the national-level baseline and monitoring data that due diligence verification systems draw on to assess whether sourcing geographies are consistent with sustainable ecosystem management, though the specific regulatory uptake of national account data for this purpose is not yet established in most jurisdictions. For the EIA-linked aspects of due diligence, see also TG-1.6 OA and Environmental Impact Assessment.

Nature credits and biodiversity offsets: Voluntary biodiversity credit markets are emerging alongside established carbon markets, creating a potential new asset class linked to marine biodiversity outcomes. Ocean Accounts condition and extent data may provide the measurement infrastructure that biodiversity credit protocols need to verify additionality, permanence, and ecological integrity of ocean-based credits. Standardisation of measurement methodologies—currently a major barrier to voluntary biodiversity credit market development—is expected to converge on SEEA EA-aligned approaches over the medium term, though this convergence is not yet assured.

Corporate natural capital accounting: A small but growing number of corporations are beginning to integrate natural capital accounting into internal decision-making, valuing their dependencies on ecosystem services as part of capital budgeting and project appraisal. Ocean Accounts may provide the unit value reference data (ecosystem service values per hectare by ecosystem type) that corporate natural capital accounts require, enabling firms to populate internal accounts without commissioning bespoke ecosystem service valuations for each decision—subject to the availability and spatial coverage of national monetary accounts.

4. Acknowledgements

This Circular has been approved for public circulation and comment by the GOAP Technical Experts Group in accordance with the Circular Publication Procedure.

Authors: [Names and affiliations]

Reviewers: [Names and affiliations]

5. References