Six major development banks have launched a new €3 billion campaign to fight ocean plastic pollution after smashing their previous fundraising target seven months early, according to the banks’ announcement. The Clean Oceans Initiative 2.0 was announced at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) joining five European institutions for the 2026-2030 effort. The original initiative raised €4 billion since 2018 to fund projects that keep plastic waste out of the world’s oceans.
Ocean plastic pollution keeps getting worse. The UN says plastic waste flowing into water could jump from 11 million tonnes in 2021 to 37 million tonnes per year by 2040 if nothing changes. The banks have already put money into wastewater treatment plants in Sri Lanka and Egypt, waste management in Senegal, and flood protection in Morocco.
In this new phase, the banks want to do more than just clean up—they’re focusing on preventing waste in the first place and supporting circular economy projects that develop alternatives to plastic. The Asian Development Bank’s participation is crucial since Asia is where much of the ocean plastic originates, and the bank brings regional expertise and local project connections.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle said hitting their initial target seven months early shows how well the banks work together. The banks also plan to use better scientific measures to track their impact, especially in plastic pollution prevention.
The initiative represents the largest multilateral effort dedicated to ocean cleanup financing. With plastic pollution threatening marine ecosystems worldwide, these development banks are betting that targeted investment can make a real dent in one of the planet’s most visible environmental problems.
