Natural Capital & Financing Solutions

Why do natural capital and financing solutions matter?

Ecosystem degradation, climate change, extreme events and zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19 highlight the need for investment to address challenges such as food and water security, climate and disaster risks and ensure economic and social development. Economic development at the expense of nature and the accompanying environmental degradation requires rethininking by governments, businesses, financiers and consumers. According to the World Economic Forum over half of the world’s total GDP ($44 trillion of economic value generation) is moderately or highly dependent on nature (WEF 2020, Nature Risk Rising).

Nature-based solutions are strategies which use nature to address societal challenges, and can make a crucial contribution to supporting the changes needed for a more sustainable future.

Natural capital and ecosystem services valuation are increasingly recognised as critical instruments to mainstream the value of nature - particularly the benefits provided by ecosystems - into business and policy-making. This evidence-based approach demonstrates the dependencies and impacts of human activities on nature and provides paths to inform decision-making.

ELD activities

  • State of Finance for Nature: Time to act: Doubling investment by 2025 and eliminating nature-negative finance flows

    United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and ELD have jointly released the report “State of Finance for Nature. Time to act: Doubling investment by 2025 and eliminating nature-negative finance flows.”

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  • Achieving green growth through terrestrial natural capital restoration

    Given the critical role that natural capital and ecosystem services play in maintaining biodiversity, enabling green growth, and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Green Growth Knowledge Partnership (GGKP) and the ELD Initiative joined forces. Together with institutions and local experts new methods for achieving the SDGs through terrestrial natural capital restoration were developed and applied. Country studies in India, Kyrgyzstan and Rwanda demonstrate how restoring terrestrial natural capital can create co-benefits in social and human capital that go hand in hand to achieve several SDG targets.

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  • State of Finance For Nature: Tripling investments in nature-based solutions by 2030

    United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and ELD have jointly released the flagship report “State of Finance For Nature: Tripling investments in nature-based solutions by 2030”.

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  • State of Finance for Nature in the G20: Leading by example to close the investment gap

    United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and ELD have jointly released the report “State of Finance for Nature in the G20: Leading by example to close the investment gap

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