How we turn Hands2Ocean’s Baltic clean-ups into audit-grade impact
Beneath the waves of the Baltic Sea, the seabed tells a toxic story: car batteries leaking heavy metals, tyres releasing zinc and chemicals, debris choking biodiversity. For most, this problem remains invisible. For Hands2Ocean, it’s their daily mission.
Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Hands2Ocean is a nonprofit that dives along Swedish shorelines to remove trash from the ocean floor. But they do more than clean up — they integrate inclusion into their work, training young people from care programs to earn diving licenses, gain new hobbies, and find purpose.
“Our work is about the ocean and about people,” says Fredrik Johansson, founder of Hands2Ocean. “Inclusion, engagement, and action — that’s what drives us.”
The challenge — and the gap
Hands2Ocean faces the same challenge as many ocean NGOs:
Funding that is stable and predictable
Visibility that reaches beyond social media to municipalities, governments, and serious corporate partners
Tools to translate their tangible efforts into the language of business sustainability
Right now, Hands2Ocean reports tons of scrap removed. Tomorrow, with Your Devocean, they will report on avoided emissions, reduced toxicity, restored biodiversity acres, and social engagement hours — all aligned to European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and the SDGs.
A new partnership for scalable impact
Your Devocean is building the Bloomberg Terminal meets Crunchbase for ocean regeneration — a trusted data hub, marketplace, and connection platform for NGOs, companies, and individuals.
By partnering, Your Devocean is helping Hands2Ocean:
Produce audit-grade ESG-aligned impact reports
Gain visibility among companies seeking credible ocean impact for their double materiality assessments (DMAs)
Open the door to larger funding that could enable scaling, such as investing in a mobile pressure chamber for deep-water clean-ups beyond 10 meters
“Your Devocean are angels to us, translating our ocean trash to impact,” says Johansson. “This legitimises our actions in conversations with corporate partners and municipalities.”
Impact so far
Hands2Ocean’s record is impressive:
455+ tonnes of hazardous waste removed in total
44+ tonnes of lead batteris removed
Thousands of kilograms of heavy metals and toxins prevented from further leaching into the sea
On the first joint dive with Your Devocean, 250 kg of car batteries were lifted in just two hours. It was a stark reminder of both the scale of the problem — and the urgency of scaling the solution.
Why this matters for companies
For companies, Hands2Ocean’s work directly supports:
E2 & E4 ESRS areas: Pollution reduction, biodiversity restoration
SDGs: 14 (Life Below Water), 15 (Life on Land), plus strong social components
Compliance: DMA-aligned impact reporting that can strengthen Green CapEx positions, reduce revision risk, and deliver 2x–4x ROI (and up to 15x in certain industries)
Your Devocean makes this possible by:
Matching corporate ESG needs with high-impact projects
Providing a self-service marketplace and tailored portfolio suggestions
Delivering certified PDF and XBRL reports, plus half-year and full-year progress updates
The call to action
“This is the kind of partnership that changes the game,” says Robert Kornfeld, Co-Founder & CPO of Your Devocean. “Hands2Ocean is already creating real, measurable change in the Baltic. We make sure that change is recognised, funded, and scaled.”
For Companies: Become a leader — support the critical work of Hands2Ocean and align it to your ESG strategy.
For NGOs: Join the Your Devocean ecosystem and turn your efforts into ESG-aligned impact.
For Individuals: Follow, share, and help us scale this movement.
