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Investments in nature-based solutions should triple by 2030 and quadruple by 2050, a new report warns that the status quo is irreversible if it does not change the economy, the planet and humanity.
A new Nature Report for Finance warns that public and private investment is projected to triple $ 350 billion by 2030 from the current $ 133 billion – or $ 4.1 trillion difference by 2050.
“It’s doable, but it’s not done,” Teresa Jartman, one of the report’s authors and climate and nature leader at the World Economic Forum, told Al Jazeera.
“If we take the existing financial flows, the recovery packages, the subsidies, the tax revenues – and if we redirect them, that’s the goal that can really be achieved.”
The Natural Finance Status Report is produced by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Economics and Living Economy of the Earth Degradation Initiative and co-financed by the German and Luxembourg governments.
The authors urge political leaders and businesses to take the opportunity provided by the coronavirus pandemic and direct unprecedented fiscal stimuli to build a “greener”.
“There’s a tremendous amount of spending going on in the recovery right now, but it’s not being spent in the right places. At the moment we have a real opportunity to rebuild and we’re not,” Hartmann said.
Of the $ 14.6 trillion announced fiscal spending by governments, only 2.5 percent has been earmarked for green initiatives, and according to the report, about 14 to 15 percent of spending has been detrimental to nature.
Half of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) depends on nature, and nature-dependent sectors such as agriculture, food and beverage and construction generate an average of $ 8 trillion a year in gross value added, the authors say.
Post-COVID public funding must be aligned with the goals set out in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and the Kunming Convention on Biodiversity, Ivo Mulder, UNEP’s head of climate finance, told Al Jazeera.
The private sector also plays a big role.
“Companies and financiers have a tremendous opportunity to increase investment in sustainable supply chains, forest carbon and other natural climate solutions, but this requires both public and private actors to take risks,” Mulder said.
One way to turn the private sector into a “green” is to add climate provisions to recovery packages.
The Dutch government had an additional condition for a multi-million euro bailout of the KLM airline – which calls for the airline to halve its emissions by 2030.
“It’s gotten to a point where if we don’t do that by 2030, it’s not like we can do by 2040,” Hartmann said. “If we can spend $ 2 trillion a year on military security, then we would have to spend a whopping $ 350 billion on planetary security.”
Hartmann said it’s fairly easy for companies to push spending where they want it through appropriate tax incentives, putting a tariff barrier that encourages the private sector to start doing business in a more sustainable way.
Earlier this year, Switzerland signed a bilateral trade agreement with Indonesia – the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil – to reduce import tariffs on palm oil if oil is produced sustainably.
These incentives can help bridge the gap between public-private spending and bring the world closer to funding greener initiatives.
“What we’re saying is that if you don’t invest in nature, you’re going to threaten food security, water security and human life,” Hartmann said. “Basically, human life is up and running.”
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