Thirty times more money goes to destroying nature than to conserving it. In other words, for every US dollar the world invests in protecting nature, it spends $30 on destroying it.
This stark imbalance is the central finding of a new UN Environment Program (UNEP) ‘State of Finance for Nature 2026’ report released on Thursday. It highlights how global finance flows are currently aligned more with ecosystem destruction than ecosystem restoration.
The agency used figures from 2023. At that time, $220 billion (€189 billion) was invested in nature-based solutions, while a whopping $7.3 trillion (€6.28 trillion) was spent on things that only exacerbated climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. This imbalance must be corrected urgently, warns UNEP.
Nature-based solutions
The agency calls for a significant shift in global financing of nature-based solutions and phasing out harmful investments to deliver high returns, reduce risk exposure, and enhance resilience.
UNEP emphasizes that current investment in nature-based solutions is far too low to meet global commitments on climate, biodiversity, and land restoration.
To be on track by 2030, nature-based solutions funding needs to grow to approximately $571 billion per year — roughly 2.5 times the 2023 level. This is equivalent to about 0.5 % of global GDP.
Urgent shift
“If you follow the money, you see the size of the challenge ahead of us. We can either invest in nature’s destruction or power its recovery – there is no middle ground,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. […] This report offers leaders a clear roadmap to reverse this trend and work with nature, rather than against it.”
“The world’s financial flows need an urgent shift – from degrading the environment to investments in nature-based solutions,” said H.E. Reem Alabali-Radovan, Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany.
Benefit for ecosystems and people
Nature-based solutions include climate-positive and nature-positive actions such as mangrove and wetland restoration, forest conservation for carbon storage, and sustainable agriculture and landscape protection.
Nature-based solution investments aim to benefit ecosystems and people, for example, by sequestering carbon or reducing flood risk.
“The private sector plays a key role in this. German development policy supports partner countries in valuing their natural capital so that it can be taken into account in key policy decisions.
This can lead the way to a sustainable and future-proof economy.” Without urgent redirection — especially from the private sector — there is a high risk that biodiversity loss, climate change impacts, and pollution will accelerate.
