Nature has a funding gap

A $942 billion biodiversity financing gap is forcing investors and governments to rethink how ecosystems are valued, funded, and accounted for

Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP

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For most of economic history, nature has been treated like an all-you-can-eat buffet with no bill at the end. Forests filtered water, mangroves absorbed storm surges, and pollinators kept $800 billion worth of agriculture humming along. Nobody sent an invoice.

That arrangement is starting to break down. A sweeping United Nations report released this month found that the global economy's focus on growth is actively degrading the natural systems it depends on, with the costs running into trillions of dollars annually. 

More than half of the world's GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature. And a growing field of researchers and investors is racing to figure out what that dependency is worth — before more of it disappears.

The gap between what nature needs and what it gets

Welcome to nature finance, the effort to channel investment toward protecting and restoring ecosystems. The global biodiversity financing gap has ballooned to $942 billion per year, according........

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