By Milliam Murigi
For every dollar the world invests in protecting nature, it spends US $30 on destroying it, a new report has revealed.
Dubbed The State of Finance for Nature 2026: Nature in the Red: Powering the Trillion Dollar Nature Transition Economy by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the report, which uses 2023 data, reveals the scale of the imbalance.
In total, nature-negative finance flows amounted to US$7.3 trillion, with US$4.9 trillion coming from private sources concentrated in sectors such as utilities, industrials, energy, and basic materials. Publicly funded environmentally harmful subsidies across fossil fuels, agriculture, water, transport, and construction totaled US$2.4 trillion.
Meanwhile, nature-based solutions (NbS) finance flows reached only US$220 billion, nearly 90 per cent from public sources. In comparison, private investment in NbS remains low at just US$23.4 billion, representing only 10 per cent of total NbS funding.
“While financing nature-based solutions crawls forward, harmful investments and subsidies are surging ahead. This report offers leaders a clear roadmap to reverse this trend and work with nature, rather than against it,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director.
Globally, finance flows continue to be heavily skewed toward nature-negative activities, which threaten ecosystems, economies and human well-being. Nearly half of the global economy significantly depends on nature, yet governments, business and finance continue to erode our collective nature bank account.
Business-as-usual continues to lock the world deeper into further degradation of ecosystems, but governments, corporates, consumers and investors have the power to redirect flows and unlock resilience, equity and growth.
To meet global biodiversity, climate and land restoration targets, the report emphasizes the urgent need to scale NbS investments 2.5 times to US$571 billion annually by 2030, which constitutes only 0.5 per cent of global GDP in 2024.
“By shifting finance away from nature-negative activities and scaling up nature-positive activities, we can power a new nature transition economy,” she added.
To guide governments and businesses, the report introduces the Nature Transition X-Curve, a framework designed to sequence reforms, phase out harmful subsidies, and scale up high-integrity NbS and nature-positive investments across all sectors of the economy.
The framework also provides options for public and private sector actors across the supply chain, helping them align investments with sustainability goals.
“The world’s financial flows need an urgent shift from degrading the environment to investing in nature-based solutions,” said H.E. Reem Alabali-Radovan, Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Adding that “The private sector plays a key role. German development policy supports partner countries in valuing their natural capital so it can be incorporated into key policy decisions, paving the way for a sustainable, future-proof economy.”
The report highlights practical examples of NbS being implemented around the world. These include greening urban areas to counter heat-island effects and improve liveability, embedding nature in road and energy infrastructure, and producing emissions-negative building materials using carbon dioxide.
UNEP stresses that nature-positive investments must be grounded in local ecological, cultural, and social contexts, while ensuring equity and inclusivity, so that communities most dependent on natural resources benefit from conservation-driven economic development.
