MDBs launch playbook to mobilize private capital for nature infrastructure

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Paulson Institute and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have jointly launched a report titled “Unlocking Private Finance for Nature as Infrastructure: A Public-Private Partnership,” the EBRD announced. The report sets out in practical terms how countries and financial institutions can integrate nature into infrastructure planning and mobilize private capital at scale through standardized public-private partnerships for nature. The work includes contributions from Morphosis and NatureFinance.

The report’s central proposition is the need to treat high-integrity ecosystems as infrastructure-grade investable public assets and show how to protect and build their value through long-term contracts with measurable ecological performance. It stresses the need for governments to embed nature into national plans and budgets, and how public-private partnerships for nature can align public objectives with private expertise, with guarantees, insurance solutions and biodiversity credits helping to improve bankability and attract institutional investors. It also outlines roles for multilateral development banks to help reduce risk in early transactions, support pipeline development and align policy, regulation and disclosure with nature outcomes.

“We must move beyond abstract concepts of nature protection and recognize ecosystems as infrastructure—turning them into investable, high-integrity asset classes,” said Jin Liqun, President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the AIIB. “MDBs have a critical role in realizing this shift by embedding nature into planning, finance and governance at scale.” Henry M Paulson Jr, Founder and Chairman of the Paulson Institute, emphasized that governments must lead the way and set the rules that drive investment toward nature protection and restoration. “Nature is not a luxury. It’s not free. It’s our support system. And it’s disappearing before our eyes.”

The report highlights practical delivery by integrating ecosystems into national infrastructure pipelines, specifying outcome-based contracts and monitoring, and using fiscal and regulatory measures to provide market clarity. It also provides guidance on integrity by protecting Indigenous Peoples and local communities through land and data rights and guaranteeing free, prior and informed consent or similarly internationally recognized standards and fair benefit-sharing. The report is clear that private-sector investment in nature will happen at the necessary scale only if governments appropriately value nature, penalizing those who damage and destroy it and rewarding those who protect and restore it.

The partners identify priority applications such as watershed resilience, coastal protection and forest conservation, where public-private partnerships for nature can aggregate projects, reduce transaction costs and deliver measurable resilience benefits.

“To scale investment in nature, we must build financial partnerships that deliver measurable outcomes,” said Odile Renaud-Basso, President of the EBRD. “That means deploying the full suite of catalytic tools in ways that attract private capital and align public ambition with market expertise.”

The partners will work with governments, regulators, MDBs, banks and investors to translate the report’s guidance into investment-ready pipelines.