How Can Investment in Nature Close the Infrastructure Gap?

The report calculates that nature-based infrastructure (NBI) could cover between 9% and 14% of the global infrastructure gap, representing a potential annual investment of approximately USD 489 billion. Through a literature review and SAVi assessments, the document demonstrates that NBI often provides significant cost savings—averaging 50.6% less than grey infrastructure—and generates higher value, returning USD 10 for every dollar invested compared to USD 3.6 for traditional built infrastructure.

• Nature-based infrastructure (NBI) is estimated to be able to cover between 9% and 14% of the global infrastructure gap, which equates to a potential annual investment of USD 400 billion to USD 600 billion.
• Across various sectors, the potential annual investment that could be shifted to NBI includes USD 112.11 billion for water and sanitation, USD 170.95 billion for transport, and USD 62.58 billion for agriculture.
• NBI offers substantial economic advantages over grey infrastructure; on average, NBI costs 50.6% less and generates 29.1% more value, with a benefit-to-cost ratio of 10.0 compared to 3.6 for grey infrastructure.
• In the energy sector, NBI can reduce energy demand for cooling through urban green spaces and green roofs, which can lower a building's annual energy consumption by 15%–45%.
• For coastal protection, NBI such as living shorelines can be significantly cheaper than seawalls, with typical capital costs for natural shorelines ranging from USD 0 to USD 6,562 per metre, while seawalls can cost up to USD 32,800 per metre.
• NBI can provide critical water treatment services; for instance, vertical-flow treatment wetlands can reduce ammonium, total suspended solids, and chemical oxygen demand by up to 90%.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2021). How Can Investment in Nature Close the Infrastructure Gap? https://nbi.iisd.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/investment-in-nature-close-infrastructure-gap-annex.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. How Can Investment in Nature Close the Infrastructure Gap? 2021. https://nbi.iisd.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/investment-in-nature-close-infrastructure-gap-annex.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=How Can Investment in Nature Close the Infrastructure Gap? |date=2021 |url=https://nbi.iisd.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/investment-in-nature-close-infrastructure-gap-annex.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2021how, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{How Can Investment in Nature Close the Infrastructure Gap?}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2021}, url = {https://nbi.iisd.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/investment-in-nature-close-infrastructure-gap-annex.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }