Finance Flows
A worldwide effort to catalyze private and public capital for nature to meet the targets set by the Rio Conventions and the Sustainable Development Goals to address the biodiversity, land degradation, and climate crises.
Annual NbS investment to meet Rio targets needs to almost triple from US$200 billion to US$542 billion by 2030 and to quadruple to US$737 billion by 2050
Governments lead on NbS finance but private finance flows can potentially increase by 7 times by 2050 to cover 33% of total NbS investment by 2050. Investment in sustainable land management can increase 4x from US$63 billion in 2025 to US$241 billion in 2050 providing big opportunities to scale private investment.
Nature-negative finance flow are very large at almost US$7 trillion
Private nature-negative finance flows amount to US$5 trillion annually, 140 times larger than the US$35 billion of private investments in nature-based solutions. The five industries channeling most of the negative financial flows – construction, electric utilities, real estate, oil and gas, and food and tobacco – represent 16% of total investment flows but 43% of nature-negative flows. Government spending on environmentally harmful subsidies to agriculture, fossil fuels, fisheries and forestry is estimated at US$1.7 trillion in 2022.
Private Finance Lagging: 18% (US$35 Billion) of Global NbS flows
Public finance remains the main source of finance at 82 per cent (US$165 billion) of total NbS finance flows. Private finance for NbS remains modest at US$35 billion in 2022, equivalent to 18 per cent of total finance for NbS globally.
The trajectory of annual NbS investment needs to limit climate change to below 1.5°C, haltbiodiversity loss and achieve land degradation neutrality, $ billion (2022 US$)
Private NbS finance flows have increased by US$3 billion (10 per cent) growth in biodiversity offset markets, sustainable supply chains and impact investment
57% (US$20.3 billion) of private finance flows to NbS is channeled through biodiversity offsets and sustainable supply chains.
NbS provide critical investment opportunities
Investment opportunities in sustainable land management can increase fourfold by 2050, with revenue streams attracting private investment in sustainable food and commodity production. Protection of biodiversity is highly cost-effective, representing 80% of the additional land needed for nature-based solutions while absorbing just 20% of NbS financing by 2030. Restoration remains an important opportunity.
Scaling NbS finance
NbS can be cost-effective tools to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss while benefiting ecosystems and human well-being. Despite this potential, NbS investment significantly trails climate finance, relying more on public funds.