Current Challenge:
Ocean-based climate solutions are a critical enabler of Canada’s transition to a low-carbon economy, climate competitiveness, and economic growth agenda. This specifically includes marine decarbonization and marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) for climate mitigation.
However, ocean-based climate solutions are value-chain based and will only be as strong as the weakest link. While significant efforts are currently underway across scientific research, technology development, policy advancement, and community engagement related components, they are not enough to make these solutions economically viable or scalable. Using carbon removal as an example: not only is there not enough funding being deployed, one can argue that the funding structures are not fit for purpose either. There is a lack of broad-based and sustained demand for the outputs of removal solutions, and carbon markets continue to remain a complex, fragmented, and difficult pathway for commercialization.
Market Solutions Platform:
It is imperative that these business-related components of the value chain are advanced in parallel, which is a crucial gap across the sector. Market Solutions Platform (MSP), a new strategic initiative of Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, is aimed at addressing this gap by accelerating the development of market for ocean-based climate solutions.
The outputs from MSP will be a portfolio of solution-enablement assets and will vary by the nature of the problem being addressed. Examples include proof of concepts, funding constructs, case studies, leading practices, or applied frontier research.
Ecosystem-based:
A fundamental design element of MSP is an ecosystem-based approach that leverages a network-of-network model. Efforts and direction of MSP will be guided and informed by the insights and expertise of a Strategic Advisory Team that is comprised of senior climate-business leaders with expertise in finance, capital markets, and carbon management, as well as our institutional collaboration partners CIBC, S2G Investments, Katapult Ocean, Propeller Ventures, and The Sustainability Accelerator, based in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.
There are many opportunities to engage and collaborate with Canada’s Ocean Supercluster on MSP. If you want to learn more, then please visit https://oceansupercluster.ca/msp/ or contact msp@oceansupercluster.ca.
By: Akash Rastogi, Chief Capital Strategy Officer, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster