Financialization of Nature

This report by Friends of the Earth International argues that the 'financialization of nature'—the process of redefining nature as a collection of quantifiable 'ecosystem services' to be traded on capital markets—is a threat to ecological justice. The document contends that these markets, including biodiversity and carbon offsets, serve as cost-cutting tools for corporations to continue industrial destruction while undermining the rights and territories of indigenous peoples and traditional communities.

• The 'financialization of nature' involves redefining nature as a series of quantifiable, measurable, and tradable 'ecosystem services' to make it compatible with the requirements of financial capital and the 'Green Economy'.
• Ecosystem service markets function primarily as a mechanism for corporations to reduce the costs of complying with environmental laws, effectively turning the promise to protect nature in one location into a 'permit' to destroy it elsewhere.
• The report argues that economic valuation of nature is a false solution because it creates new 'externalities' by ignoring the social, cultural, and spiritual values of nature that cannot be quantified in economic terms.
• Financialization poses a significant risk to indigenous peoples and traditional communities by establishing new property titles for ecosystem services, which can lead to reduced community control over territories and increased violence.
• Analysis of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) contracts reveals that they are often written in English without adequate translation, contain strict confidentiality clauses, and use opaque language to limit community understanding and legal recourse.
• The report claims that nature offsetting programs have failed to stop biodiversity loss; for example, in the EU, at least 65% of habitats and 52% of species remain at risk of loss and extinction despite such initiatives.
• The document illustrates the volatility of economic valuation through a case in Costa Rica, where forests valued at US$60,000 per year for bee pollination became economically 'worthless' to a landowner after a switch from coffee to pineapple crops, which do not require bees.

APA

Kill, J. (2015). Financialization of Nature. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/FoEI-financialization-of-nature-ENG.pdf

Chicago

Kill, Jutta. Financialization of Nature. Friends of the Earth International, 2015. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/FoEI-financialization-of-nature-ENG.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kill |first1=Jutta |title=Financialization of Nature |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=2015 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/FoEI-financialization-of-nature-ENG.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kill2015financialization, author = {Kill, Jutta}, title = {{Financialization of Nature}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2015}, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/FoEI-financialization-of-nature-ENG.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }