'Finance for Nature Positive' initiative
Case study
Global
Socially responsible investing (SRI)
The “Finance for Nature Positive” initiative, led by UNEP, aims to redirect global financial flows towards activities that protect and restore biodiversity in response to accelerating ecosystem loss. By providing a practical framework for financial institutions, it supports the alignment of investment strategies with nature-positive goals, helping shift capital away from harmful activities and towards sustainable, long-term environmental and societal outcomes.
Context and problems addressed
The world is facing a rapid decline in biodiversity and natural ecosystems. This loss of nature is worsening climate change, threatening food and water security, and increasing risks to human health and well-being. Degraded ecosystems reduce essential services such as clean air, water filtration, soil fertility and pollination. Integrating nature into financial and policy decisions is therefore essential not only for environmental protection but also for long-term social and economic stability.
In this context, public funding for nature protection and restoration is far below what is needed. At the same time, many financial flows continue to support activities that harm ecosystems. There is therefore a need to redirect capital towards activities that protect, restore and sustainably use nature.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) tried to tackle this issue by supporting countries and financial institutions in aligning financial systems with nature-positive outcomes. It encourages the development of nature markets, including instruments such as nature credits and nature shares, ecosystem restoration, regenerative agriculture, reforestation, sustainable land management and resilient food systems.
Intervention and financing model
On 25 September 2024, during the UN General Assembly and Climate Week, the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation launched the “Finance for Nature Positive: Building a Working Model” initiative, a working model which provides practical guidance for financial institutions to operationalise the Nature Positive concept as a global societal goal. It constitutes a first step towards a more complete framework and serves to advance consensus towards a common understanding on how private finance can be in line with the “nature positive” goal.
To translate this ambition into practice, the initiative identifies three “transformative levels” of the Nature Positive Initiative for financial institutions: (1) compliance with the mitigation hierarchy, (2) support of transformative opportunities for the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework and (3) organisation strategy and governance.
The initiative provides practical guidance for financial institutions to operationalise the ‘nature positive’ concept and align private finance with global biodiversity goals.
Key outcomes and associated measurements
As a global framework rather than a single programme, outcomes are measured at system level rather than through one project.
The main objective of the initiative is to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and contribute to nature recovery by 2050, using 2020 as a baseline.
Financial institutions are also called upon to monitor and report on their contributions to the Global Biodiversity Framework as they work to prevent further nature deterioration and biodiversity loss. This includes phasing out activities with significant adverse impacts, reducing key drivers of biodiversity decline, generating measurable biodiversity gains, and supporting systemic changes across value chains. Transparent metrics and accountability mechanisms are essential to track progress and demonstrate alignment with international biodiversity targets.
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