A big nature turnaround is urgently needed, focused on shifting some of the $7 trillion that is financing the destruction of nature into financial flows that heal and recover it.
Currently the funds spent by governments and the private sector on destroying biodiversty and degrading cosystems like forests and seagrasses are 30 times larger than the flows supporting conservation, restoration and protection of the natural world.
The findings come in a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It underlines that, from an economic standpoint alone, these flows make no sense given that around half of the world’s wealth generation or GDP relies to a greater or lesser extent on healthy natural systems.
Martin Krause of UNEP, Katharina Stasch of the German Economic, Cooperation and Development Ministry and Niki Mardas of the organization Global Canopy, write in the forward to the report:” Nature, on which we all depend, has become a depleted and degraded asset. Over the last decades this has only accelerated, with more species driven to extinction and vital ecosystems on the brink”.
“But as this translates into ever clearer economic impacts, particularly in high-dependency sectors like food and agriculture, the world is waking up to this most fundamental of problems,” they add.
Currently, just $220 billion a year is being invested worldwide in improving nature of which 90% comes from the public purse. The report estimates that by 2030, this needs to rise to $571 billion if nations are to meet agreed nature recovery targets under international treaties and rise again by $300 billion by 2050.
The report, Nature in the Red—State of Finance for Nature 2026, underlines that this will not happen without clear plans for change, including phasing out and repurposing harmful government subsidies totaling $2.4 trillion a year in areas such as fossil fuels, water use and agriculture.
“In the agricultural sector, environmentally harmful subsidies include direct and indirect subsidies to farmers that artificially raise crop prices or promote the overuse of inputs like fertilizers and pesticides,"says the report.
This pushes unsustainable agricultural practices versus, for example, organic, regenerative and other more sustainable forms; increases overproduction and thus the waste of food soils and provides incentives to convert more land, which can add to deforestation.
In addition to government “nature-negative” financial flows, the private sector is also investing in harm to the tune of $4.9 trillion in 2023, rising to $5.5 trillion in 2024.
The vision of a “Great Nature Turnaround”, outlined in the report, may be already stirring among governments, and there are signs that the private sector, whose role will be crucial, is also starting to up its game.
Colombia is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world.
The Colombian government expenditure on Nature based Solutions grew from US$1.2 billion in 2022 to US$1.5 billion in 2023. Agriculture and forestry companies contribute substantially to private Nature based Solutions finance with US$0.5 billion annually invested in sustainable commodity sourcing and production.
Private sector engagement is expanding, with over US$1.2 billion in green bonds issued in 2023, alongside biodiversity credits, Payments for Ecosystem Services schemes and carbon tax revenues exceeding US$0.6 billion – mostly linked to forestry UNEP State of Nature Finance 2026
In 2023, worldwide over $4 billion was invested in certified commodity supply chains
New financial instruments, like biodiversity-related bonds and funds, reached $4 billion and nature-based carbon markets hit $1.3 billion
Private investment harmful to nature through oil and gas investments declined from almost $1 trillion in 2020 to $519 billion in 2023—linked in part with an understanding of that nature is linked with financial stability alongside the decreasing costs of renewables
The Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosure is also helping the financial industry and companies to start focusing on risks to them from nature loss.
Just before the last UN climate conference in Brazil, COP30 in November 2025, it was announced that 730 organizations had adopted the Task Force recommendations.
The organizations involved represent over $22 million in assets under management.
The new UNEP report comes as the UK government and its intelligence services have issued a landmark report warning of global instability as a result of the degradation of nature.
It says climate change and nature loss were “already” contributing to crop failure, intensified natural disasters and infectious disease outbreaks.
“Cascading risks of ecosystem degradation are likely to include geopolitical instability, economic insecurity, conflict, migration and increased inter-state competition for resources,” says the report, which it is understood involved the UK security services MI5 and MI6.
The study, National security assessment - global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security, warns: “Without significant increases in UK food system and supply chain resilience, it is unlikely the UK would be able to maintain food security if ecosystem collapse drives geopolitical competition for food”.
