New report urges global financial shift toward nature-based solutions

For every dollar the world spends protecting nature, it invests thirty dollars in destroying it, a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report warns. The State of Finance for Nature 2026 found that harmful investments in 2023 totalled US$7.3 trillion—compared with just US$220 billion directed toward nature-based solutions (NbS). The report calls for an urgent overhaul of global financial systems to stop funding environmental harm and instead channel resources into nature’s recovery.

Most of the destructive finance—around US$4.9 trillion—came from private sources in sectors such as energy, utilities, and industrial production. Public subsidies to fossil fuels, agriculture, water, transport, and construction made up another US$2.4 trillion. By contrast, nearly 90 percent of NbS funding came from public sources, with private investment at only 10 percent, showing business and finance are still far behind on scaling sustainable solutions.

To protect nature effectively, global NbS investments need to rise 2.5 times—to US$571 billion a year by 2030, or just 0.5 percent of global GDP. “We can either invest in nature’s destruction or power its recovery—there is no middle ground,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen. “While financing nature-based solutions crawls forward, harmful investments and subsidies are surging ahead.”

The report introduces the Nature Transition X-Curve, a new framework for governments and businesses to phase out environmentally harmful spending and ramp up nature-positive investments. It lays out practical steps to reform markets, shift subsidies, and embed sustainability in global supply chains. German Development Minister Reem Alabali-Radovan stressed the role of the private sector, noting that valuing natural capital in policymaking “can lead the way to a sustainable and future-proof economy.”

The report points to emerging examples of the transition already underway—cities investing in green spaces to cool urban heat, infrastructure projects integrating nature into design, and industries developing building materials that absorb carbon. It also emphasizes that nature-positive investments must be inclusive, equitable, and rooted in local ecological and cultural realities.