Financing for Nature
Financing for Nature
Financing for Nature is a multistakeholder community convened by the World Economic Forum to reflect on the key challenges of scaling up financial flows toward a nature-positive economy and determine the essential elements and structures needed for a solid and just natural capital market.
Context
Nature is the bedrock of virtually every economic activity. Yet a combination of forces – including population growth, land- and sea-use change, urbanization, poverty, unsustainable agricultural, forestry and fisheries practices – continue to pollute, damage, and destroy nature.
The Future of Nature and Business Report highlighted that $44 trillion of economic value generation – over half the world’s total GDP – is potentially at risk as a result of the dependence of business on nature and the ecosystem services it provides.
However, the current financial flows and efforts are not sufficient to match this challenge, and the current global biodiversity conservation financing gap is estimated at around $711 billion per year.
Our contribution
The need to invest in our natural capital has never been more urgent, and a global awakening to the nature-related risks and opportunities we are facing is now gaining momentum. Both public, private and blended finance interventions are needed to reverse the track the world is currently heading down and transition towards an economic system that better values nature and its global public services.
To respond to the challenge of mobilizing more private capital toward nature, the World Economic Forum is convening a multistakeholder initiative to determine the essential elements and structures needed for a robust natural capital market.
Key public and private sector leaders are coming together to design the building blocks for a market that fully reflects and captures the value of nature while enabling economic returns and biodiversity conservation underpinned by social justice.
Through this new collaborative effort, the Forum aims at:
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Enable a Nature Capital Market
Providing a platform for governments, innovators and stakeholders to collaborate on creating an enabling environment for natural capital in emerging and developing countries, innovating and scaling new actionable solutions for investment
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Innovate
With public and private partners, facilitate the structuring of new forms of investment that value nature, and build a high-quality, liquid market for nature-based solutions
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Advocate
Activate leaders to deploy policy and incentives that recognize the value of nature in economic development
Related projects
Engage with a multistakeholder project relating to the Platform’s priorities
