Our mission at the Center for the Blue Economy is to promote a sustainable, resilient ocean and coastal economy (the “Blue Economy”) through leadership in research, analysis, and education.
What is the “Blue Economy”?
The “Blue Economy” comprises the economic activities that create sustainable wealth from the world’s oceans and coasts. The center examines ways that ocean and coastal resources can support economic development and enhance healthy, resilient oceans and well-managed coastlines.
Our Research
Our research focuses on two areas—helping organizations understand how to measure the size and changing nature of economic relationships with the oceans and coasts in order to guide choices and monitor progress, and the economics of climate change adaptation in coastal regions.
The Center for the Blue Economy has partnered with Blue Frontier to host a series of invitation-only meetings bringing together thought leaders from across industry, government, academia, and the conservation community with a goal expanding and refining the Ocean Climate Action Plan or OCAP (draft #2 available here) to form the basis of the first ocean-climate legislation at the federal level in U.S. history.
The Ocean Climate Action Plan has two main objectives: 1. To use ocean and coastal resources to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and 2. To help coastal communities to equitably adapt to climate change impacts. The policy recommendations being developed can also be used as a template for state legislation in large coastal states, such as California, Florida, Alaska, and Louisiana. The Center for the Blue Economy and Blue Frontier are acting as convenors for a diversity of stakeholders in this collaborative, nonpartisan effort. Time is running out to mitigate the worst aspects of climate change. There is an urgent need to put in place sensible policies to ensure continued prosperity in the coastal regions, which are ground zero for climate impacts. All partners and supporters are welcome. For questions, please contact Jason Scorse, CBE Director, at jscorse@miis.edu.
All speakers after March 10th will be canceled due to COVID-19 precautions
Out of an abundance of caution, the Middlebury Institute and the Center for the Blue Economy will cancel our Sustainability Speaker Series after the March 10th lecture with Dr. Melissa Garren. We hope to reschedule our great lineup to the fall.
- Videos are available for past events: If you missed Climate Crisis & Action with keynote speaker Jimmy Panetta (Feb.19th, 2020) you can see a video of the disussion as well as many other past speakers at the Center for the Blue Economy MIIS YouTube channel.
We are so proud to be a part of this vibrant, engaged, and thoughtful community. Stay healthy everyone.
Featured News
Follow the Center for the Blue Economy on Twitter @CBE_MIIS or Facebook @CenterForTheBlueEconomy for related news stories on clean energy, ocean health and innovation, and of course, happenings in the global blue economy.