Useful Resources

This report presents high level opportunities for investing in nature as infrastructure by using innovative financing instruments. It is intended as a high-level guide to set the direction and build momentum particularly among multilateral development banks.

This report provides a detailed framework, including definitions and methods of scaling. The IAPB also provides key findings and a roadmap of next steps to enable the creation of high integrity biodiversity markets.

This report lays out key areas that the insurance sector can unlock finance for Nature: risk transfer, protection of natural assets, enabling trade in environmental markets and governance.

This compendium of insights covers policy coherence, sustainable land use, valuing natural capital, the Nature-climate nexus and inclusion of Indigenous Peoples.

This insight report aims to provide a framework for evaluating how innovation across technology, financial instruments, business models and new investments can mobilise more investment for natural capital.

This report focuses on the EU policy requirements for corporate nature target setting and reporting as set by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and its associated European Sustainability Reporting Standards. It provides insights on how entities should establish credible, tailored nature targets that align with Science-Based Targets for Nature.

This report lays out a global roadmap for a Nature-positive economy. It addresses key pillars including Nature-positive transition pathways, data and metrics, private capital markets, international financial institutions and trade and the global commons.

This report, co-authored by WWF and Aviva, demonstrates why the UK government should directly develop, or commission the development of, national sectoral pathways to deliver the nature-positive goals for the UK set out in the Global Biodiversity Framework. It also has a high-level Nature Positive Pathway for the agriculture sector in the UK.

This report by the WEF provides a concise explainer on natural capital, nature financing instruments and business models. These concepts are explained through a set of nine global case studies that bring innovations into the nature-investment value chain.

This report, by the Climate Financial Risk Forum, provides an introduction to Nature by defining nature-related risks and transmission channels for financial institutions, with examples. It also lays out methods of integrating nature into existing risk management practices.

BloombergNEF reveals 12 case studies of companies that provide scalable solutions to address the five major drivers of nature loss across the agri-food, materials, industrials, consumer discretionary and data services industries. These range from multi-billion-dollar publicly listed enterprises to small-scale start-ups completing early rounds of fundraising.

This report by the Soil Association Exchange highlights findings from three months of farmer-led research. Of c. 120 farmers and other stakeholders, 66.1% of whom agreed or strongly agreed that financial and business risks are barriers to transitioning farming systems. The report has subsequent recommendations for banks, development finance, funders and the agriculture sector.

Danske Bank has published a white paper on nature and biodiversity where it shares its insights from engaging with more than 280 companies. They address five key questions: 1. Why is nature and biodiversity a critical agenda? 2. What motivated our engagements, and what have we discovered so far? 3. Based on our engagement, what are our reflections on the overall agenda in the context of the Global Biodiversity Framework and its ambitions? 4. What recommendations can we offer to other financial institutions undertaking similar engagements? 5. What needs must be addressed to elevate this agenda to the necessary level and activate the financial sector effectively?

Date published: October 2024 This paper, published by Lloyds Banking Group and the RSPB, focuses on NbS for water management, exploring how integrating nature into land management and urban infrastructure can safeguard biodiversity and support wider adaptation to the effects of climate change. It also showcases NbS already underway across agricultural and urban environments in the UK, highlighting the raft of positive outcomes these can bring for nature, climate, and people and the steps we need to take to unlock their delivery at scale.

This Global Roadmap for a Nature-Positive Economy sets out an agenda for action on how to reform the economic rules of the international economic and financial system. By doing so, this Roadmap aims to stimulate discussion and progress towards building a nature-positive economy, particularly among economic and financial decision-makers in government, the private sector and international institutions.

This report, published by Howden and Pollination, explores how the insurance sector can drive a step change in the investments needed to tackle the interdependent global climate change and biodiversity crises. The report sets out four core roles of insurance to underscore this point: risk transfer to mobilise capital, protecting natural assets, enabling trading in environmental markets, and governance.

This report, published by WWF and Aviva, outlines the case for the development of government-endorsed nature-positive sectoral pathways, so that the private sector and the Government can tackle the nature emergency together. It also sets out the illustrative nature-positive pathway for the agriculture sector in the UK.

This insight report aims to provide a framework for evaluating how innovation can mobilize more investment for natural capital. This framework is broken down by stage of value chain and has case studies that illustrate where innovation is boosting investment into nature.

Report from leading nature finance organisations provides insights on the size of the investment opportunity; market data on the growth in the pipeline of investible Nature-based Solutions (NbS); expert perspectives on project success factors and what needs to happen next to scale private financing and investment. Data from Capital for Climate identifies at least $1.67B of capital allocated to NbS in the country in the last 12 months, while IFACC are progressing efforts to mobilise $1 billion in disbursements to projects by 2025.

A report from World Bioeconomy Forum and NatureFinance with support from many civil society organisations explores the current and prospective interplay between finance and the bioeconomy. Key findings include that the bioeconomy holds the potential to become the counterpart investment opportunity to the existing trillion-dollar-a-year clean tech investment landscape.

WWF's Risk Filter Suite (RFS) brings together the water and biodiversity risk filters together into a free, online platform, providing a spatially explicit nature risk assessment tool which can support CSRD disclosures. It is designed to be used as a corporate and portfolio-level screening and prioritisation tool.

This paper by Systemiq, published in New York Climate Week, highlights that climate change and nature loss have macroeconomic implications and urges the International Monetary Fund to systematically assess climate and nature risks, as well as investments in resilience for all countries, recognising that investment in natural capital is critical for adaptation.

SBTN have published outcomes from their pilot programme that saw leading companies (such as Tesco, GSK, H&M and Nestle) set targets for their land and freshwater impacts. 10 of the 17 pilot companies passed the validation of one or more freshwater targets.

The Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) has launched this toolkit to guide investors with a framework through nature-related risks and opportunities in areas including stewardship, policy and communication. The toolkit categorises nature-related investment opportunities into three areas: nature-aligned investments, nature-positive investments and transition opportunities.

This report by the OECD finds that biodiversity funding hit $25.8 billion globally in 2022, largely driven by loans provided by multilateral institutions. It also notes that wealthy nations have one year to plug the $5bn nature finance gap.

This report provides an understanding of NbS, details the difficulties associated with scaling and implementing such solutions, and proposes a framework to map and estimate the benefits of NbS in the Global South. This framework will allow users to: a) identify an intervention as an NbS, b) demarcate its benefits, and c) estimate the cost-to-benefit ratio by providing a standardised approach to assess and report on their outcomes and costs.

The FSB has surveyed financial authorities from participating FSB member jurisdictions and international organisations on their current and planned initiatives on nature-related risks. The report provides insights on authorities’ approaches, recognising the early stage of work on nature-related financial risks and the diversity of authorities’ mandates and approaches to date.

This report assesses the current state of nature-related reporting against the TNFD’s core disclosures. It reveals that firms assessed from most sectors on the way to aligning their disclosure with the TNFD framework, with 56% of the 16 firms in the sample disclosing information relevant to all 14 Core Recommendations, and 100% of firms having set nature-related targets.

Finance & Investment in Nature-Positive Energy (FINE) have published an industry-leading research report on nature-positive investment opportunities in the solar energy sector. Led by the University of York, Lancaster University an NextEnergy Capital, the NextEnergy Solar Fund explores integration of finance and biodiversity in transition towards a nature-positive future.

This briefing covers water as the dominant nature-related financial risk that could constitute 7-9% of global GDP. It sets out a clear business case as to why directors of financial institutions should analyse their water-related risks in more detail. It puts forward a call to action for boards and directors to adopt a systems approach, assess risks and opportunities, use change levers at their disposal and document and disclose the overall risk strategy.

This report offers a vision for the opportunity for blue bonds to accelerate a sustainable ocean economy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENAT), the Asia and North Pacific (APAC) regions APAC and beyond. It also highlights urgent priority actions to achieve this vision.

This CEO briefing released during London Climate Action Week summarises a research collaboration between the World Economic Forum and Oliver Wyman, finding that lead financial institutions have begun to request nature-related data from companies. The briefing identifies opportunities for banks, investors and insurers to develop nature transition plans

This report by Pollination, TIFS and the Rockefeller Foundation is aimed at financiers with access to flexible, scaled capital to highlight market maturity and example instruments for regenerative agriculture investment. The report calls on the private sector to see regenerative agriculture as an investment opportunity. 

ERM along with the WBCSD have co-authored a report that outlines natural solutions that can address climate change while also replenishing biodiversity and delivering social benefits. The report details a step guide in developing an investible natural climate solution, aligned with the investment process. 

Finance Earth, in collaboration with Pollination, the Crown Estate and the Blue Marine Foundation, have published 7 recommendations alongside an implementation roadmap to deliver high quality natural capital markets in the UK. These recommendations are mapped to barriers as well as provide a detailed timeline for each recommendation.

This short guide, co-authored by the Sustainable Markets Initiative and GFI, seeks to demystify the various opportunities available to investors to increase private capital flows into Nature, and draws on the experience and insights of asset managers within this emerging sector. It also presents detailed case studies designed to support the decisions made by investors

Written by Rewilding Britain, this report takes a deep dive into mechanisms that can support rewilding financing in the UK and focuses on actors including practitioners, project partners, funders and brokers within the rewilding ecosystem. The report lays out 5 recommendations, each of which details a case study that showcases the recommendation in practice.

This report details a preliminary stocktake of G20 strategies and practices in contribution to the Brazilian G20 Presidency's Global Initiative on Bioeconomy, including how G20 members are advancing the bioeconomy as a basis for: Facilitating members’ learning and engagement, Enabling G20 members’ action and Increasing cooperation in areas of common interest. The report includes a section on financing which lays out the types of nature markets used, including asset, intrinsic, derivative and credit markets.

In this report, the National Audit Office examines the progress that Defra and Natural England have made in implementing statutory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), and whether they have done so in a way that maximises benefits and effectively manages risks. The report goes on to make recommendations aimed at supporting Defra and Natural England to maximise value and manage risks to statutory BNG as policy implementation becomes business as usual.

The Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA) proposes that "a biodiversity credit is a certificate that represents a measured and evidence-based unit of positive biodiversity outcome that is durable and additional to what would have otherwise occurred." The report goes on to define terms within the definition, and highlights issues for further discussion such as transparency, trading rules and liability for performance failure.

This paper draws on the expertise of the Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) Nature Working Group to make recommendations on the future of nature in transition planning beyond the current TPT Disclosure Framework and associated guidance. It considers how the TPT’s approach to climate transition planning could be applied to nature objectives, and what can be done to create the enabling environment needed for business to implement this approach within transition plans. 

GARP has undertaken its first global survey of nature risk management across the financial system, with the intention of examining both the risks and opportunities within a financial firm’s portfolios (rather than its direct operations). There were 48 firms in this year’s Survey, comprising 37 banks, seven asset managers, and four insurers. Among other things, the survey shows that: 31% of the firms report that their regulators have published formal expectations for nature risk management, and another 13% expect their regulators to do so. Nearly half of the boards in the sample have oversight of nature-related risks and opportunities. Just 17% of firms are using metrics, targets, or limits to assess drivers of nature-related risks.

CPIC has published four additional blueprints to add to its existing repository, including: Belterra's use of blended finance in managing agroforestry systems in Brazil; the RSPB's use of a commercial debt facility to refinance the acquisition of its habitat bank site for S106 payments in England; Heal Rewilding's leveraging a blend of concessional and commercial debt alongside public and private donations, for nature recovery projects in England; and Koa's use of a low-interest loan from the Landscape Resilience Fund and IDH Farmfit Fund to scale its use of agricultural by-products.in Ghana.

This Thematic Report from Arcadis, ICF and the European Business and Biodiversity Platform specifically focuses on biodiversity disclosure initiatives - both regulatory and voluntary- to highlight the major differences and similarities. The report covers 6 biodiversity disclosure initiatives: the European Sustainability Reporting Standard (ESRS) E4 on biodiversity and ecosystems (part of CSRD); the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR); French Energy and Climate Law, Article 29; Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) recommendations and guidance; Biodiversity Standard of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI); Biodiversity disclosure requirements by CDP. 

The British Standards Institution (BSI) has released Version 1 of its Overarching Principles Standard, the first of a suite of upcoming standards as part of the Nature Investment Standards programme. This is intended to establish an overarching framework to ensure the functioning of high-integrity nature markets as they are developed. The document is available for public consultation until 1 May 2024.

BIOFIN has published guidance on how Biodiversity Finance Plans (BFPs) can support countries in developing national biodiversity strategy and action plans (NBSAPs). While NBSAPs are the main policy instrument for implementing biodiversity targets at the national level, BFPs focus on closing the biodiversity funding gap, and can thereby support the attainment of NBSAP targets.

A new policy paper has been released by Foresight Group and King's College London to assess the price impact on Woodland Carbon Units, of admitting the Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) into the UK Emissions Trading System (UK-ETS). The paper bases its modelling on the forestry sector but also examines best-practice examples from other regional markets and suggests a number of key recommendations for policymakers, regulators, and investors.

A report by the Center for Coastal Resilience at the University of Santa Cruz, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Guy Carpenter has been published that sets out 15 recommendations to further integrating NbS into risk science and insurance business operations in the United States. The recommendations fall under four themes: risk models; insurance coverages; public-private partnerships; and financing opportunities.

SLM Partners has released a new white paper aimed at investors seeking to invest in regenerative agriculture. The report sets out the investment and environmental case for regenerative agriculture, while also highlighting the risks and challenges that investors may face when starting the investment journey.

The Earth Law Centre's Nature Governance Agency has uploaded four new legal templates to the Earth Law Portal, designed to help UK businesses and organizations bring a Nature Director onto their board of directors. These four templates include a Nature Director Nomination Policy, a Nature Director Document Tracker, a Nature Director Document Changes, and a Nature Director Commitment Level to Implementation Matrix (CLIM). The templates were developed and adapted from the advice of Shearman & Sterling LLP. 

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has published its 19th edition of the Global Risks Report. This speaks on a number of material risks that relate to the environment and ranks five of these in the top 10 risks that will dominate the global economy in 10 years time. These include: 1st - Extreme weather events. 2nd - Critical change to Earth systems. 3rd - Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse. 4th - Natural resource shortages. 10th - Pollution.

This report, co-authored by the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), provides an overview of the key methodological and conceptual trends among the private sector assessment and disclosure approaches on nature-related issues. It provides comparative research on seven leading standards, frameworks and systems for assessment and disclosure on nature-related issues, such as the SBTN guidance, CDP and the TNFD.

Led by WWF and Natwest Group, this roadmap is a product of a series of cross-sector workshops and provides an overview of the Government action needed to mobilise private financial investment for a regenerative agricultural transition in England.

This report is a first output from the project “Global Tools to Unlock Capital for Investments in Nature-Based Solutions” of the Global Center on Adaptation in partnership with the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) at the University of Oxford. This first output reviews the status of nature finance globally, to learn from the role played by nature-focussed funds and their investment managers, understand what works, and draw conclusions for how we might mobilise more financing for nature-based solutions for adaptation

This discussion paper from SystemIQ aims to deepen the action agenda for nature finance by proposing five urgent, systemic action items to mobilize capital for nature and four investment priorities for financial institutions.

Ecosystem Marketplace has published its latest summary of global voluntary carbon markets to provide updating pricing, trends and other relevant data and insights related to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. It includes several data points around nature-based carbon credit sales.

The report finds that the adaptation finance needs of developing countries are 10-18 times as big as international public finance flows. This is over 50% higher than the previous range estimate, and the current adaptation finance gap is now estimated at US$194-366 billion per year. This report identifies seven ways to increase financing, including through domestic expenditure and international and private sector finance.

The report finds that as things stand, fully implementing unconditional Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) made under the Paris Agreement would put the world on track for limiting temperature rise to 2.9°C above pre-industrial levels this century. Fully implementing conditional NDCs would lower this to 2.5°C. Today, the projected increase is 3%. However, predicted 2030 greenhouse gas emissions still must fall by 28% for the Paris Agreement 2°C pathway and 42% for the 1.5°C pathway.

The Centre for Sustainable Finance (CISL)’s new Let’s Discuss Nature with Climate Engagement Guide details how banks and investment managers can accelerate the transition to a nature-positive economy by engaging with portfolio clients and investee companies on nature protection and restoration through existing climate mitigation efforts. The Guide presents a five-phase approach to integrate nature into existing engagements on climate.

This report is an assessment of the condition of UK nature markets with particular reference to the framework for high-integrity nature markets published by the Financing Nature Recovery coalition in June 2022. The coalition included some 60 organisations and was led by Broadway Initiative along with the Green Finance Institute and Finance Earth.

These Principles have been collectively published by Finance Earth, the Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, Woodland Trust, National Trust and Federated Hermes Limited. They are aimed at enhancing the integrity and effectiveness of nature markets linked to carbon and nature credits. They are designed as a stop-gap, to influence market practice today and to contribute to emerging Government Policy and Regulation. The Principles may be used voluntarily by all market participants and to assist with policy development.

Released on World Food Day, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)'s The High Cost of Cheap Water report finds the annual economic value of water and freshwater ecosystems is estimated to be USD 58 trillion – equivalent to 60% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The report finds that direct economic benefits, such as water consumption for households, irrigated agriculture and industries, amount to a minimum of USD 7.5 trillion annually. It also estimates that the unseen benefits - which include purifying water, enhancing soil health, storing carbon, and protecting communities from extreme floods and droughts - are seven times higher at around USD 50 trillion annually.

Pollination analysed eight biodiversity credit schemes across the globe, providing a view of the supply side of this fast-emerging market. The report identifies key characteristics and market trends across the eight schemes. It also identifies six key attributes of voluntary biodiversity credit schemes that should be prioritised for improvement over coming years

In this report, Pollination sets out the findings from its survey of 557 investors across the globe that are engaged in nature investment. The survey aimed to understand what is motivating their work, where they see risk and opportunity, and how the investment footprint on nature is evolving today.

This voluntary Guidance is for broad use by the market to provide issuers with guidance on the key components involved in launching a credible “blue bond,” to aid investors by promoting availability of information to evaluate the environmental impact of their “blue bond” investments, and, and to assist underwriters by offering vital steps that will facilitate transactions that preserve the integrity of the market.

This Roadmap recommends the key steps needed for financial institutions to eliminate commodity-driven deforestation, conversion, and associated human rights abuses from their portfolio by 2025. The Roadmap focuses on finance provided to clients/holdings (including companies, projects, and financial institutions) which produce, process, procure and finance the highest-risk agricultural commodities, which are responsible for over two thirds of tropical deforestation.

UNEP FI’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative (PSI) and Nature Teams co-authored this paper articulating the role that insurers can play in supporting the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The paper includes recommendations on managing nature-related risks and on innovative solutions and new opportunities to insure nature. Furthermore, this paper identifies gaps in knowledge, tools, methods and standards and proposes a roadmap to speed up and scale up nature-positive insurance.

Commissioned by The Crown Estate and Blue Marine Foundation, and led by Finance Earth and Pollination, this report identifies barriers to developing high-integrity marine natural capital markets in the UK and outlines recommendations for unlocking vital investment into marine natural capital, drawing on input from almost 100 stakeholders.

The Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) published the beta version of its Conceptual Framework for Nature-Related Financial Risks to guide policies and action by central banks and financial supervisors. The Framework seeks to create a shared science-based understanding of, and common language for, these nature-related financial risks to help central banks and financial supervisors navigate the complexities and challenges associated with assessing and addressing these risks.

The City of London Corporation and PwC, with support from the Green Finance Institute, have collaborated to outline a vision for an innovative and world leading global centre for nature finance that supports the ambition of the Global Biodiversity Framework. It provides seven recommendations for the UK Government, regulators, and the Financial Services sector. The report also recommends for Government to "address marine biodiversity as a matter of urgency" in its nature markets.

The State of Nature Partnership is formed of 50 conservation-linked organisations. Its first report uses the latest and best data from biological monitoring and recording schemes to provide a benchmark for the status of the UK's wildlife. It finds nearly one in six species are threatened with extinction. Pollinators such as bees, hoverflies and moths, have decreased by 18% on average, whilst predatory insects, like the 2-spot Ladybird which help control crop pests, have declined by more than a third.

This report by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, outlines several case studies that highlight private sector initiatives in emerging markets, from marine ecosystems to agriculture. The report showcases the scope for stronger collaboration between the public and private sectors.

The Taskforce on Nature Markets published its final report that sets out seven recommendations to embed nature and social equity goals into global finance. The recommendations call integrating nature considerations across economic, financial, and social policies and regulations, equitable sharing of benefits, prosecution of crimes against nature, and establishing transparent measures of the state of nature.

This new Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) report reveals nature is consistently overlooked in financial decision-making by most financial institutions, despite stepping up climate considerations. It offers an analysis of efforts across governance, strategy and implementation, risk management, and metrics and targets mechanisms of most financial institutions.

Published by the UNEP Finance Initiative, this Roadmap suggests recommendations for actors across the financial landscape on integrating the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) within their policies and decision-making processes.

This report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) recommends that the government allocate £2.4 billion a year for the next decade in England for environmental land priorities, accompanied by a strengthening of the regulatory baseline for farming in the UK, in line with aims and targets for net zero and the recovery of nature on land. The report also advises that government should end subsidies in the form of de-linked payments to farms with over £100,000 net annual profit from food sales, starting in 2024.

This report was developed by NatureFinance in association with Carbone 4 and in collaboration with the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The first part of the paper provides an overview of recent developments in the biodiversity credits landscape. The second part of the report proposes a Global Roadmap – first introduced at the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact held in Paris in July 2023.

This report finds that the UK must urgently double down on adaptation action and set the right policies, institutions and capabilities in place to build a net zero, resilient and nature-positive economy. Significant gaps in the UK's climate policy regime are slowing the flow of finance towards projects that can help manage the impact of extreme heat, floods, storms, and drought in the UK. Action on adaptation, including nature based solutions, is lagging behind and the risks are mounting.

Within the UK there is a need for a common set of overarching principles that would apply to nature-based environmental improvement projects and the quantification of ecosystem services. As part of its four-year Nature Investment Standards Programme, the British Standards Institution (BSI) has published its first discussion paper on Integrity Principles that covers the proposed scope of the integrity principles standard, key success criteria for the development of the integrity principles standard and examples of principles in action.

The UNDP and BIOFIN has launched a new biodiversity finance resource database - FIRE - which aims to close the financing gap for biodiversity conservation by listing over 200 funding opportunities globally. FIRE is envisioned to be a comprehensive database that serves principally all kind of biodiversity projects (private, public or by civil society) to identify additional funding possibilities (both refundable and non-refundable).

The Association for British Insurers (ABI) has published guidance to help insurers and long-term savings providers become ‘nature positive’ in helping tackle the decline in the UK’s nature. This guidance sets out the compelling case for action by the industry, including that nature loss exposes the homes and businesses that ABI members protect across the UK to a wide range of risks, which in turn will impact markets and financial performance. It aims to help firms begin to assess the risks and opportunities, and develop a strategy for action. 

The Ecosystems Knowledge Network have recently published this review of the nature finance project pipeline in the UK. Data from 219 projects were included in the review, including 177 place-based (sub-regional) projects and 42 projects designed to enable recipients and providers of nature finance to interact. It also identifies the developmental stages of these projects according to the GFI's Investment Readiness Toolkit.

During 2022, Ernst & Young Advisory Pte Ltd (“EY”) teams assisted its clients in Asia-Pacific to pilot test and provide feedback on the TNFD’s framework. Heads of ESG and sustainability from 70 financial institutions from the region participated in initial awareness sessions, and 12 financial institutions and three corporates gave feedback on the TNFD LEAP framework. The EY report on the pilot testing, TNFD - Making It Real, provides extensive insights and analysis.

As part of a series of publications to help financial institutions understand the relevance and implications of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), this briefing provides banks a first overview of how the GBF applies to their industry. It aims to support the industry in managing associated risks, capturing relevant opportunities and preparing for anticipated policy developments that will yield new compliance and disclosure requirements.

The Paris Agreement paved the way for a new era of carbon trading with the establishment of Article 6, which enables countries to collaborate in achieving their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by trading mitigation outcomes. This paper, published by The Nature Conservancy, offers straightforward guidance on what was further decided at COP27 and dives into the complex implications of Article 6 for NDCs, nature and the VCM.

In December 2022, 196 countries adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), providing a global framework to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. This report, from the UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation, provides an overview of the key implications for investors of the goals and targets of the GBF. It aims to support investors in managing associated risks and preparing for anticipated policy developments.

This Bloomberg NEF report aims to kickstart and frame discussions on current finance flows to nature, where funding should be prioritized and how to make this happen. It develops a weighted framework to guide biodiversity restoration and preservation funding priorities to maximize impact. It is founded on the principle that funding is required where biodiversity is plentiful, providing value, and at risk. The highest funding priorities are large middle-income countries such as Brazil, China, Indonesia, and India. The report highlights that blended finance has a role to play, as well as risk-mitigation mechanisms.

The Taskforce on Nature Markets collaborated with Pollination to write this paper exploring requirements and recommendations for a legal, policy and regulatory framework to guide the development of high integrity biodiversity credit markets. The paper examines case studies, identifying current biodiversity credit market initiatives in both the private and government sectors, highlighting initiatives underway in New Zealand, Colombia, Australia, Niue and other parts of the world, and proposes five high-level principles and recommendations to ensure high-integrity outcomes

This report aims to: 1) raise awareness of the importance and role of the agrifood sector in solving the triple planetary crisis as well as contributing to sustainable development; 2) provide an overview of the key opportunities for financial institutions to enhance financial flows to sustainable food systems (through impact management and targets, risk mitigation strategies and financial innovation); and 3) foster an enabling environment for driving capital towards sustainable food systems.

This report seeks to understand how new and emerging markets in natural capital fit into a changing landscape for farmers. It explores some of the opportunities and risks from a farmer’s perspective, and the barriers that are currently preventing significant levels of take-up from farmers of the emerging ‘natural capital’ markets

Finance Earth was commissioned by the Scottish Government, in partnership with NatureScot, to explore how voluntary carbon markets can be harnessed to accelerate the delivery of high-integrity peatland restoration across Scotland. The report aims to understand both the financial and non-financial barriers to peatland restoration, and sets-out recommendations on how public capital can be used most effectively to crowd in private investment into peatland restoration. It proposes two key mechanisms be developed, a Scotland Carbon Fund (SCF) and a Price Floor Guarantee (PFG).

This paper provides preliminary estimates of the aggregate impact of physical risks from climate and environmental-related natural disasters on bank balance sheets across 184 countries over nearly 40 years. The paper finds that severe disaster episodes lead to an increase in the level of systemwide non-performing loans, which is persistent over time.

One of the main themes in this paper is that the expanding biodiversity credit markets create both potential and risks – the risks are that these markets result in greenwashing and value only aspects of nature that offer short term economic rewards. The paper puts forward a taxonomy for biodiversity credit markets, namely as philanthropic claims / certificates; regulatory (mandated) offsets; biodiversity-linked carbon offsets; in-setting credits; biodiversity offsets; and biodiversity financial asset. The report draws on NatureFinance’s roles in the GEF’s Working Group on Innovative Mechanisms to Address the Biodiversity Financing Needs, and on its joint work with the Taskforce on Nature Markets.

Private finance plays an important role in driving the global food system. This Planet Tracker report estimates nearly USD 9 trillion of private finance is currently supporting the global food system (63% of its estimated asset value of USD 14 trillion). The report sets out four food system transformation themes that financial institutions should focus on when constructing a food system investment strategy: Responsible supply chains Increase food system true cost efficiency Reduce Pollution Sustainable Product offerings The report also identifies six priority actions financial insitutions should aim to achieve before 2030 in order to create an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable global food system.

The report identifies several areas for targeted action by Government to support investment in adaptation across the economy and makes recommendations for a well-defined vision the UK to adapt to Climate Change. It finds that across all climate risks facing the UK, the necessary additional investment in climate resilience required could be in excess of £10 billion per year this decade.

600 million people's livelihoods worldwide are supported by global seafood production. This WWF collaboration with UNEP FI, the FAIRR Initiative, World Benchmarking Alliance and Planet Tracker lists recommendations for investors in the blue economy to collectively engage seafood companies on critical nature and biodiversity related impacts and risks. The initiative's goal will be to assist investors in strengthening their demands and standards for companies’ commitments to and implementation of best practice in seafood sustainability.

The report contains six recommendations and nine guiding principles for how government and policy makers can work with the banking sector to help farmers reach Net Zero. Bankers for Net Zero is an initiative that brings together leaders from 13 of the UK's leading banks, along with representatives from business and government. The initiative was established in 2020.

The Synthesis Report is the last of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) products. It synthesises the contents of the three Working Groups Assessment Reports and the Special Reports. The report has been called a final warning on 1.5C. One of its main findings is that with current policies, 3.2°C of global warming is projected by 2100. In response to the report, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on developed countries to accelerate their plans, moving their 2050 pledges to end emissions up to 2040.

The UK Government has published its Nature Markets Framework alongside the Green Finance Strategy. The Nature Markets Framework sets out how government will guide and support the development of nature markets capable of supporting elevated investment levels, whilst ensuring their integrity and principles. Detail is included on: Core principles for nature markets Stacking and bundling  Additionality tests Blending public and private finance  Work with the British Standards Institute to develop overarching standards for nature markets

The UK Government has published its updated Green Finance Strategy (GFS).  Welcoming the GFS, Dr. Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE, CEO of the Green Finance Institute, said: “While the first Green Finance Strategy focused on planning and targets, this one is about delivering capital to finance our climate and nature goals. The Green Finance Institute’s pioneering strategy of positioning finance as the enabler of sectoral transitions is recognised as key to achieving net zero. The Strategy sets out a step change in how the UK will mobilise the finance needed to limit catastrophic warming and catalyse investment into nature.” “Today’s announcement broadens our mandate to work with government and the market to accelerate the mobilisation of capital to restore and protect nature as well as to decarbonise critical sectors, alongside well-designed long-term policy. Going forward, we will help develop innovative approaches to deploying government capital to crowd in private finance, maximising impact, and value for money. This is the only coherent pathway to economic growth and net zero, and the GFI is delighted to be a partner to the Government in this process.” 

The report identifies several areas for targeted action by Government to support investment in adaptation across the economy and makes recommendations for a well-defined vision the UK to adapt to Climate Change. It finds that across all climate risks facing the UK, the necessary additional investment in climate resilience required could be in excess of £10 billion per year this decade.

2023 - A watershed year for action on deforestation. The report finds that 201 (40%) of the companies and financial institutions most at risk of driving deforestation still haven’t set a single deforestation policy. It also reveals that $527 billion of finance flowed from financial institutions to Forest 500 companies with no deforestation policies last year, at risk of fuelling climate change and biodiversity loss.

Five years ago, the 25 Year Environment Plan (25YEP) set out Defra's vision for a quarter-of-a century of action to help the natural world regain and retain good health. Defra has published an update to its 25YEP, setting out a framework to deliver on its vision. The EIP uses the 10 goals set out in the 25YEP as the basis to set out the progress made under each target, and the plan to deliver the overarching goals. The EIP announces the government's intention to launch a new multi-million pound Species Survival Fund targeted at protecting the UK's rarest species, as well as protect 30% of the UK's land and sea for nature through the Nature Recovery Network.

Environmental Finance has published its Biodiversity Insights 2023 report, outlining how investors are incorporating biodiversity concerns into their decisions in light of the Global Biodiversity Framework agreed at COP15.

Former energy minister Chris Skidmore has published his Net Zero Review, outlining the opportunities of net zero. The review makes 129 recommendations, including those to support 'net zero nature' with nature-based solutions. Within Pillar 3: Net Zero and the Economy of the report, Skidmore highlights the role of land use in reaching net zero and calls for the publication of the Land Use Framework, the embedding of nature in transition plans and the development of a pipeline of nature-based solutions in the UK.

Green Alliance examines whether expected changes to land use and management will create a need for new policy and mechanisms to rebalance interests between different communities. This report proposes three changes that would reduce tensions within communities and make sure their benefits from altering land use and management are maximised.

In this report, Green Alliance models five land use scenarios that restore nature, achieve net zero carbon emissions and provide good food, each prioritising different goals. These scenarios explore how the innate trade-offs in land use interact. They reveal several insights, which Green Alliance uses to recommend a 'balanced priorities scenario' for government to pursue with farmers, land managers and other actors.

The Global Risks Report explores some of the most severe risks the world may face over the next ten years. Failure to mitigate climate change, failure of climate-change adaptation, natural disasters and extreme weather events, and biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse are the top four risks.

This ShareAction report analyses the actions taken by the 25 largest consumer banks in Europe to respond to the climate and nature crises. Mean scores for climate action across this cohort of banks was 48%, and just 35% for biodiversity action. The report provides leading practice examples, and concludes with a list of recommendations.

This WWF report finds that most of the growing number of government-led sustainable finance investment frameworks - or "sustainable finance taxonomies" - fail to adequately address nature loss. This report aims to provide insights and recommendations on how to address nature-related environmental objectives in government-driven sustainable investment and financial risk management frameworks.

This McKinsey report examines the state of natural capital, the economic sectors depending on and affecting it, and the opportunities for companies to help reduce those demands. It sizes the actions corporations could take to act as catalysts to return the planet to a “safe operating space for humanity”.

The Guide provides financial institutions with advice on how to integrate biodiversity into their financing activities and decision making, as well as how to start measuring impact and setting targets.

This report from the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative finds that directors may face the risk of a liability for a failure to consider biodiversity risks in governance and disclosure if this breaches the duties of care and loyalty.

This white paper provides context and potential implications for 10 of the draft GBF’s 22 proposed action targets that are most likely to result in changes to business strategies or operations across multiple sectors, and presents case studies of companies that are already taking action to mitigate nature-related risks in their operations, while investing in new business opportunities that contribute positively to the targets of the GBF.

The second edition of the State of Finance for Nature report reveals that nature-based solutions are still significantly under-financed. If the world wants to halt biodiversity loss, limit climate change to below 1.5C and achieve land degradation neutrality by 2030, current finance flows to NbS must urgently double by 2025 and triple by 2030.

In this discussion paper, the UK Investment Bank outlines its initial thoughts on how UKIB can help catalyse investments in natural capital markets. It identifies three areas of the market that would benefit from more established business models, clearer policy drivers, and developed market infrastructure; the voluntary carbon market; Biodiversity net gain; water services UKIB will further develop its expertise in market segments across the natural capital market.

The World Economic Forum launched its Guide for Sustainable Ocean-Based Carbon Markets at Sharm El-Sheikh. The report aims to provide consistent and accepted standards for blue carbon projects and credits for credit purchasers, investors, suppliers, and project developers.

Finance For Biodiversity has published the 2nd Edition of its 'Guide on Biodiversity Measurement Approaches'. This guide provides a comprehensive summary of the kinds of biodiversity measurement tools that are available and in use by financial institutions.

Finance For Biodiversity has also published the 6th update to its 'Overview of Initiatives for Financial Institutions on Biodiversity'. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the main biodiversity-related initiatives currently targeting financial institutions.

This new WWF report analyses the key scientific findings from the three Working Group contributions to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the IPCC and insists on the power of nature in helping the world reach the 1.5 Degrees target.

This paper published by the Imperial College London Business School focuses on the financial opportunity surrounding natural assets and sustainable agriculture. It reviews what financial structures exist now and what sort of architecture needs to be built to make nature investible.

The new TNFD Financial Markets Readiness Assessment report published by UNEP FI and UNDP identifies the existing incentives and barriers for financial institutions to integrate nature-related risk assessment and reporting in the decision-making process, and explores how the Taskforce can help develop these opportunities and overcome these challenges.

This paper maps key aspects of nature markets and includes a systematic economic quantification of nature markets globally, in USD. It finds that nature-based markets, including agriculture, voluntary carbon credits and nature-based solutions could be worth more than $7 trillion a year, making them equivalent to 8.6 per cent of global GDP. The paper also offers insights into legal frameworks and rights of nature as well as considerations for embedding equity in nature markets. The paper calls for robust governance of rapidly expanding nature markets to avoid greenwash, halt illegal markets and deliver nature positive and more equitable outcomes

This briefing paper encapsulates the core thinking, issues and questions surrounding the credible and inclusive launch of biodiversity credits markets. It presents four case studies on new biodiversity credits products, from New Zealand, Colombia and Australia, plus one with global reach.

The Green Alliance has published a new report on how the government’s new Land Use Framework, expected in 2023, can support farm businesses across the country to play a leading role in achieving national climate and nature targets without damaging food security.

This report analyses 16 'bankable' nature-based solutions projects from around the world in order to identify common factors for success, and improve the understanding of the business models, blends of investors and financial resources that are being successfully used to support NbS globally. This report was developed by South Pole together with WWF.

The way nature is valued in political and economic decisions is both a key driver of the global biodiversity crisis and a vital opportunity to address it, according to a four-year methodological assessment by 82 scientists and experts from every region of the world. The Assessment Report on the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature finds that there is a dominant global focus on short-term profits and economic growth, often excluding the consideration of multiple values of nature in policy decisions.

The Financing Nature Recovery UK Recommendations and Roadmap set out how to make the UK an attractive market for nature-based investment to help drive nature recovery. The overall report outlines how to unlock existing barriers and deliver high-integrity environmental markets that drive private investment and nature recovery across the UK. It sets out a framework to modernise regulation, leverage public expenditure and secure large-scale private investment in nature and biodiversity each year by 2030.

McKinsey’s new report, Blue Carbon: The potential of coastal and economic climate action, sizes Blue Carbon nature based solutions and measures their impacts, costs, and likely access to future funding. It highlights the latest scientific research and estimates abatement or conservation potential on a 2050 timeline. Deep dives on kelp reforestation and bottom trawling show how economies of scale in these emerging solutions could help reduce costs. The report also comments on the potential of blue carbon credit sales. 

In this paper, New Forests provides investors with guidance on managing carbon through greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting for the land sector or through nature-based carbon credits and the intersection of these approaches with emerging net zero standards. This guidance seeks to support investors’ understanding of how to integrate sustainable landscape management with optimised returns, climate impact, and portfolio decarbonisation.

The Scottish Government has set out six principles that set out their ambitions and expectations for a high-integrity market for responsible private investment in natural capital. This is targeted towards communities, investors, land owners, public bodies and other market stakeholders.

The UK National Lottery Heritage Fund commissioned Finance Earth to review the state of green finance for nature restoration in the UK. This report offers deep insights into the barriers and solutions to financing nature.

This report from the World Economic Forum lays out suggestions for scaling private investment in nature. It highlights several best practices of companies, and touches on financing models. It also points to where governments can play a more supportive role.

This report attempts to capture the complete amount and future need for G20 country spending on nature-based solutions assets and activities. It calls for G20 countries to scale-up annual nature-based solutions spending to $285 billion by 2050, and provides recommendations to align development and economic recovery with nature goals through setting quantifiable monetary objectives, governance and policy options, and devices to facilitate systemic changes to meet this investment gap.

Green Alliance's report highlights natural capital investment opportunities and challenges within the UK farming sector, providing a helpful source for the finance sector looking to work with farming communities - while drawing attention to potential risks posed by the emergence of natural capital markets.

This report from Howden and Blackford discusses the role of insurers in supporting green infrastructure, forestry and carbon markets. The authors estimate that, due to the growth in carbon markets, the associated insurance industry could be worth $1.3 billion globally and up to $2-4 billion in blue sky scenarios.

Chatham House's Sustainability Accelerator has developed (through consulting with the finance sector) a learning tool to facilitate the inclusion of nature-based solutions within comprehensive portfolio decarbonization strategies. The framework outlines the drivers of risk and return when analyzing prospects for investing in nature-based solutions - initially focusing on forests.

Consultancy Accelar’s Nature Finance Impact Hub launched in October 2021 and offers free registration to access a map of international (and UK) investment deals and funds. It also provides information on ecosystem services, impacts and returns.

GFI commissioned environmental economics consultancy, eftec, to assess the finance gap for key nature targets for the UK over the decade ahead. The report highlights a £44 billion to £97 billion gap for the UK and breaks out the gap by region and also by habitat and nature goal ie. clean water, natural flood management, biodiversity protection.

CPIC’s inaugural conservation finance report highlights useful data such as deal types, average deal size and investor types within its conservation finance investment universe. It also includes a handful of case studies, and discusses the challenges and recommendations for growing private investment in nature.

This report from Citi GPS focuses on the question of why businesses and investors should care about biodiversity loss. It illustrates the increasing attention that financial institutions are paying to analyzing biodiversity risks, and highlights the need for more granular information that these institutions need to make better decisions.

This report from the Green Purposes Company and Finance Earth lays out NbS investments by type, and offers short summaries of several transactions -including their expected returns. It also provides aggregated data from 88 transactions to show sector investment by ecosystem, investor type and geographical location of deals. Finally, the report offers a set of recommendations to grow private investment in NbS.

This UNEP report urges a tripling of investment in NbS before 2030 from current estimates of $133 billion in yearly flows. It discusses opportunities to scale up investment using policy levers and public sector funding as a derisking tool. The report also offers snippets of international financing solutions and a list of recommendations.

This report from CREO - a group of family offices and wealth owners - offers many interesting case studies of investment opportunities within regenerative agriculture in the US, with other examples from Brazil and the Netherlands. The appendix offers a list of regenerative agriculture funds globally.

GFI convened and consulted with over 40 representatives from banks, asset managers, asset owners, standard setters and conservation finance specialists to respond to the Dasgupta Review’s findings. The result is set of recommendations from the sector that focus on assessing nature-related risk and driving investment into nature. The report offers several short case studies of investments in nature in addition to broader examples where the finance sector is supporting a nature-positive transition.

Global Canopy’s Little Book of Investing in Nature identifies steps towards generating, delivering and realigning finance for biodiversity, as well as highlighting the need to avoid investments in activities that damage the natural resources we depend on. It features more than 40 mechanisms and 25 case studies of investment projects (some purely public sector, some private and some blended finance).

Finance Earth and eftec produced this literature review and report for NatureScot that highlights different financing models for nature and ecosystem services. It offers helpful descriptions and examples of various models such as environmental impact bonds, local nature bonds and timberland investment management organisations, and discusses how these could be adapted to Scotland’s nature investment aspirations.

This extensive report from the Paulson Institute, Nature Conservancy and Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, discusses in detail the estimated investment in biodiversity globally ($124bn to $143bn as of 2019). It also highlights the global finance gap for biodiversity and the financial and policy mechanisms to help close the gap, including examples of current models and supportive policies.

This report from the Broadway Initiative discusses the barriers to private investment in nature within the UK. It lays out different aggregation models of catchment markets, habitat banks and aggregation brokers such as LENS

Over a period of months the Scottish Wildlife Trust and SEPA brought together multiple stakeholders, including the finance sector, to develop a set of investment ideas for nature restoration and nature-based solutions for Scotland.

This report, carried out by Finance Earth (formerly Environmental Finance) and commissioned by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, highlights investment opportunities in natural capital across the UK by habitat.

This report from The Nature Conservancy and Environmental Finance (now Finance Earth) highlights the challenges of nature-based investing and discusses what investors need. While written in 2019, the information still holds true, and several interesting case studies are included.

To support the Natural Capital Financing Facility, the European Investment Bank (EIB) developed this extremely useful guide to establishing investable nature projects. It provides helpful information, such as pros and cons of different legal structures, and risk mitigation tools.