Researchers have pinpointed the top 100 transnational organizations that bring in the most profits from the ocean's economic system.
According to an article written by the Duke Nicholas Institute, the companies - otherwise known as the 'Ocean 100' - account for up to 60 percent of approximately $1.9 trillion generated from the core industries within the ocean's economic system in 2018 alone. Researchers at the Stockholm Resilience Center, Stockholm University, and Duke University published this study's outcome on Wednesday in the Science Advances journal.
According to the study, if the top 100 influential companies were a country, it would be the world's 16th largest economy. And out of the eight industries carefully examined, offshore drilling produced the most revenue.
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Identifying these Top Corporations May Help Boost Transparency Says, Lead Author
According to an article published by the lead author and director of the Ocean and Coastal Policy Program at Duke's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, John Virdin, "Now we know who some of the biggest beneficiaries from the ocean economy are." The article states that this discovery can help to boost transparency relating to ocean stewardship and sustainability.
According to Reuters' report, some of the corporations identified among the top 100 corporations with the most influence on the ocean's economy include Brazil's Petrobras and Saudi Aramco.
Over 3 billion people depend heavily on the high seas for their livelihoods. However, researchers discovered that only ten companies in each industry, including seafood production and processing, offshore drilling, and cruise tourism, generated up to 45 percent of the entire industry's revenue.
Co-author and science director at the Stockholm Resilience Center, Henrik Österblom, stated that these organizations have their headquarters in several small countries. This also illustrates that via concerted actions by some governments or the authorities, there could be significant changes in how the private sector interacts with the seas.
Ocean Under Heavy Threat Due to Increased Activity
Due to climate change, pollution, and overfishing, the ocean is increasingly threatened. This has considerably degraded the ocean's habitats, fish stock, biodiversity, and ecosystems.
The international community responded to these trends by adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015. For the first time, the agenda aimed to conserve the seas, oceans, and marine resources for sustainable development.
However, according to the Ocean's Conservancy CEO, Janis Searles Jones, these agreements tend to overlook the fact that the ocean has the potential to lessen the extent of climate change. She added that in order to give the sea a fighting chance, greater ambition is a must.
Identifying these corporations could be of immense help to environmental groups like the Ocean Conservancy as they could put pressure on the companies to adopt sustainability objectives that include climate mitigation tactics.
Virdin thinks that key managers of big organizations have a major role to play in achieving sustainability. Nevertheless, these companies' adoption of sustainable practices may not be enough to reach universal sustainability goals.
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