Posted on June, 03 2022

There is growing global recognition that delivering the transition to net zero and tackling climate breakdown relies in no small measure on investing in nature and forging a global economy that is nature-positive as well as net zero.

This is encouraging – but we currently have neither a north star for action on nature akin to the Paris 1.5°C target for climate, nor the policies, incentives, or finance necessary to realize the nature-positive ambition.

Initiating a nature-positive economy requires a clear and credible roadmap, and a powerful and influential alliance of actors from across society that is capable of both developing it and ensuring it is taken seriously.

That is why WWF and partners are calling on finance ministries and financial institutions to start building political, financial, and multisectoral support for reforms that will drive an equitable transition to a net zero, nature-positive economy.

Reforms must include changing the ‘rules of the game’ so that we move away from a global economy based on the pursuit of indefinite production and consumption responsible for climate and ecosystem breakdown.

Our economies are dependent on and embedded in nature, and natural resources and nature’s services must be properly valued, and environmental externalities properly disclosed, priced, and built into financial markets.

Delivering this scale of change will not be straightforward. To have a chance of implementation, any roadmap for a nature-positive economy will not only need to offer a compelling vision, a credible strategy, and a convincing economic case, but also demonstrate widespread political buy-in, especially from economic and financial policymakers.

An inclusive process that brings together leaders from across government, the private sector, Indigenous peoples and local communities, and society at large, could meet this challenge and help catalyze transformative change.

Governments must initiate a virtuous cycle of nature-positive innovation and investment. Financial institutions stand ready to finance the transition to a nature-positive economy but need enabling policies.

Setting the direction for the new economy, governments can provide certainty for future investment, and incentivise companies and financial institutions to pursue business models and portfolios that work with nature rather than against it, and which in turn drive further policy and governance reforms that serve lasting prosperity and resilience.

At the Stockholm +50 conference in June 2022, the case for a Roadmap to a Nature Positive Economy was made, demonstrating the political foundation for this proposal and offering a way for financial and economic decision makers to take leadership of this work.