Africa’s first blue bond is hoping to raise N$3 billion over the next four years to expand the giant kelp forests off Namibia’s coast.

Blue Kelp, a mariculture start-up backed by diamond miner De Beers, plans to list its first US$20 million tranche of bonds on the Namibian Stock Exchange in 2025, reports Engineering News.

The company, founded in 2020, is developing kelp forests not only to provide food and shelter for marine life, but also to sequester carbon dioxide.

The company also processes harvested kelp into products used in bioplastics, cosmetics and textiles. In addition, it produces a biostimulant called StimBlue+, sold to European farmers.

The company, while based in the Namibian coastal town of Lüderitz, has operations in New Zealand and Alaska

The blue bond received a boost after Moody’s assigned its framework a SQS1 Sustainability Quality rating, an accolade held by only 8% of applicants globally.

‘We’re incredibly excited about opening up a new form of financing for blue projects worldwide,’ says Kelp Blue’s CFO, Cayne Moffat .

12 November 2024
Image: Freepik