It is easy to think of humans as existing separately from nature. But the greatest threats to humanity come from crises affecting nature, not least climate change, biodiversity loss, and rampant pollution. And we cannot address any of them until we stop taking nature for granted and start investing more in it.
“Nature-positive” investments in marine conservation, sustainable land management, water security, and afforestation could deliver around 30% of the emissions abatement needed to limit global warming to 1.5° Celsius – the target enshrined in the Paris climate agreement. Moreover, such investments not only improve our resilience to climate change; they also would help to prevent future pandemics.
Ahead of the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Cali, Colombia, this month, we must remember that the crises affecting nature also pose structural risks to the global economy, our collective well-being and prosperity, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Fully 55% of global GDP is highly or moderately dependent on nature.
In Cali, delegates from 200 countries will discuss how to accelerate action to protect 30% of the planet’s land and maritime areas, reduce pollution, and restore degraded ecosystems by 2030. One of the key obstacles to meeting these ambitious targets is financing. Not only do we currently invest far too much in activities that harm nature and make our problems worse; we invest only one-third of what is needed to meet the 2030 targets for climate, biodiversity, and land degradation.
Scaling up nature-positive investment
To scale up nature-positive investment, we need to do four things. First, build more effective public-private partnerships. Between countries and public development banks, as well as with nature organisations, companies and private-sector financial institutions. This would help de-risk investments, prepare projects, and deliver impact at scale for climate, nature, and inclusive economic development. Second, revive and mainstream regenerative practices and stewardship of biodiversity, particularly in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors. Third, common principles, standards and disclosure mechanisms to track nature-positive finance and its impact, and to disclose more information on the nature-related impact, dependencies and risk exposure of companies and financial institutions. Finally, to take nature into consideration in all policies and investment decisions, to reorientate and decrease the flow of financing to activities harmful to nature.
Multilateral development banks will play a key role in scaling up green investments. Institutions like the European Investment Bank are already stepping up support for the protection, restoration, and sustainable use of nature with the launch of common principles for tracking nature-positive finance. Such information is essential for measuring and incorporating nature into multilateral lenders’ operations, as well as informing other investors about what constitutes a nature-positive investment. Partnerships and joint efforts to put these principles into practice are ongoing.
At the European level, the EIB is working closely with the European Commission to support the implementation of the European Union’s 2030 Biodiversity Strategy worldwide. We strive to ensure that all the projects we finance cause “no loss” of biodiversity, and we are factoring biodiversity and ecosystem considerations into all our activities.
Moreover, because one of the biggest challenges in scaling up nature-positive investments lies in structuring projects, we are providing advisory services to help nature-restoration and biodiversity initiatives get off the ground. In Morocco, the EIB advised and lent €100 million ($109 million) to preserve and restore more than 600,000 hectares of forest. In Ivory Coast, we are gearing up to support sustainable cocoa farming in which forests are preserved, rather than cut down. And to support marine conservation, we are working with partner institutions on the very successful Clean Oceans Initiative, which is ahead of schedule in providing €4 billion for projects to limit plastic waste.
Innovative financial instruments
Innovative financial instruments that transfer risk can help mobilize more public and private finance for such investments. The EIB-financed Land Degradation Neutrality Fund, for example, provides finance and technical assistance for sustainable agriculture and forestry around the world, and the EcoEnterprise Fund supports pro-biodiversity businesses in Latin America. The EIB is also exploring a new investment in a fund that supports afforestation, forest management, and conservation projects on the continent. At COP16, we hope to build on such initiatives to scale up financing for nature.
We urgently need to reduce the flow of finance to activities that harm nature. Doing so is central to overcoming the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.
A version of this article was first published by ProjectSyndicate on 17 October 2024.
