The Turquoise Economy

The Blue Economy

An idea that outgrew its principles.

The Blue Economy was introduced by Gunter Pauli in 1994 as a model for regenerative development using ocean resources. At its core, it proposed that economic systems should function like natural ecosystems — where waste from one process becomes input for another, and abundance replaces scarcity.

The concept gained significant traction. The World Bank, United Nations, and European Commission adopted it. Today the global ocean economy is valued at approximately $1.5 trillion annually and is projected to double by 2030.

But adoption brought dilution. As the Blue Economy entered mainstream policy, its definition expanded to include virtually any economic activity related to oceans — from sustainable aquaculture to deep-sea mining, from coastal tourism to offshore oil. The original regenerative philosophy was gradually displaced by a framework that often served the same extractive logic it was designed to replace.

The Problem

Sustainability is not enough.

Sustainability maintains. It asks: how do we continue using these resources without exhausting them? This is a necessary question, but it accepts the existing paradigm of use and mitigation. It manages decline.

Regeneration creates. It asks: how do we build systems where the act of development itself restores and strengthens the natural environment? This is a fundamentally different question. It does not manage decline — it reverses it.

Island and coastal nations face this distinction as an existential reality, not a philosophical exercise. Their economies, food systems, coastal protection, and cultural identity depend on marine and coastal ecosystems that are actively degrading. A sustainable approach that slows degradation is not sufficient. These nations need development models that make their environments stronger, not merely less damaged.

The Turquoise Economy

Blue meets green. Extraction meets creation.

The name itself carries the meaning. Blue invokes the vast potential of ocean and sky — the source of energy, materials, food, and the medium through which island life exists. Green represents natural abundance, environmental restoration, and non-exploitative growth — the land-based regenerative principles that the sustainable economy has long pursued. Turquoise is what happens when these converge: an integrated framework where ocean systems and terrestrial development are designed as a single regenerative process.

The Turquoise Economy emerged from academic and policy discourse recognizing that the Blue Economy, as currently defined, has been compromised by commercial interests that undermine its original environmental objectives.

Where the Blue Economy spans from conservation to extraction, the Turquoise Economy draws a clear line: development must regenerate the systems it depends on. Economic activity and ecological restoration are not competing priorities to be balanced — they are the same process, designed together.

This is not idealism. It is engineering. Reef systems can be designed to simultaneously provide coastal protection, generate construction materials, produce energy, and expand marine habitat. Freshwater can be derived from ocean thermal gradients. Food systems can be built into the architecture of coastal infrastructure. Each of these creates economic value while strengthening the natural environment.

The Turquoise Economy is the uncompromising standard ManaBilt engineers.

Comparison

What changes at each level.

Toward a Standard

Three tiers of economic performance.

The global development community has established certification standards for sustainable building — LEED being the most widely recognized, with over 100,000 certified projects across 160 countries. But no equivalent standard exists for regenerative ocean and coastal development. ManaBilt is working to change that.

We define three tiers of economic performance for development projects:

Blue — the Blue Economy standard. Development makes sustainable use of ocean and coastal resources. Environmental impact is managed and mitigated. The project does less harm than conventional alternatives. This is the baseline.

Green — the Sustainable Economy standard. Development achieves net-zero or near-net-zero environmental impact across energy, water, waste, and ecosystem health. LEED Platinum and comparable certifications operate at this level. The project sustains what exists.

Turquoise — the Regenerative Circular Economy standard. Development produces measurable net positive impact on marine and coastal ecosystems. Waste from one process becomes input for another. Energy, materials, food, and freshwater are derived from regenerative ocean systems. The project leaves the natural environment stronger than it found it.

Each tier requires comprehensive, measurable performance metrics across categories including marine ecosystem health, energy circularity, material circularity, coastal resilience, community economic sovereignty, and biodiversity impact. Where LEED measures how much less damage a building does, the Turquoise Standard measures net regenerative contribution — a fundamentally different question.

The Turquoise Standard is designed to complement existing certifications, not replace them. A project can be LEED Platinum and Turquoise Certified — one covering the built environment, the other covering the marine and coastal ecosystem it inhabits. Together, they provide a complete picture of a development's impact.

The full Turquoise Certification framework is in development. ManaBilt projects serve as the proving ground.

For Island Nations

The nations with the most at stake lead the way.

Small island developing states control nearly 40% of the world's Exclusive Economic Zones. They are custodians of some of the most biologically significant marine environments on earth. They are also among the most vulnerable to climate change, rising sea levels, and ecosystem degradation.

The Turquoise Economy recognizes that these nations are not passive recipients of global development frameworks. They are the proving ground for a model that the rest of the world will eventually need — one where communities are built in partnership with natural systems rather than at their expense.

ManaBilt works exclusively within this framework. Our proprietary reef engineering technology and financial models are designed from the ground up to make every project a net contributor to the marine and coastal environment it inhabits. We do not build communities that happen to be sustainable. We build circular economic communities where development and regeneration are architecturally inseparable.