Assessing finance for nature-based solutions to climate change

The paper estimates that US$ 14.66 billion in international development finance commitments targeted 'NbS-like' activities (combining climate and biodiversity objectives) between 2016 and 2020. It identifies a declining trend in both the total amount and the share of climate finance allocated to these activities since 2017. The analysis highlights significant funding gaps for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and suggests that project documentation often fails to provide detailed evidence that these funds deliver tangible biodiversity benefits.

• Between 2016 and 2020, total funding commitments for 'NbS-like' activities—defined as projects principally targeting climate change and also targeting biodiversity—amounted to approximately US$ 14.66 billion for developing countries globally, averaging US$ 2.93 billion annually.
• There has been a steady decline in commitments for NbS-like activities since a peak of roughly US$ 4.83 billion in 2017, falling to approximately US$ 1.03 billion by 2020. This decline is reflected both in absolute terms and as a share of total climate finance, which dropped from nearly 32% in 2017 to 18.72% in 2020.
• Funding for NbS-like activities is unevenly distributed among vulnerable nations. SIDS received just over US$ 673 million (under 5% of the global total), while LDCs received just over US$ 2.44 billion (17% of the global total). Some countries, such as the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, received less than US$ 100,000 over the five-year period despite managing vast marine territories.
• France, Norway, and the US were the largest bilateral funders of NbS for climate change, while the EU was a major multilateral funder. Regionally, Africa received the most commitments at around US$ 4.19 billion, followed by Asia and the Middle East (US$ 2.87 billion) and South and Central America and the Caribbean (US$ 2.76 billion).
• A qualitative review of project documents in SIDS and LDCs indicates that biodiversity benefits are rarely defined in detail, and it is difficult to verify if climate finance tagged for biodiversity actually delivers tangible ecological benefits. Biodiversity is often listed as an objective but not meaningfully integrated into project design.
• The estimated finance for NbS-like climate activities is dwarfed by government expenditures that harm biodiversity. Annual governmental subsidies for agriculture, forestry, and fisheries (estimated at US$ 274–542 billion in 2019) are 100 to 200 times greater than the estimated US$ 2.5 billion in NbS-like climate finance for the same year.

APA

Atteridge, A., Bhatpuria, D., Macura, B., Barquet, K., & Green, J. (2022). Assessing finance for nature-based solutions to climate change. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/sei-wp-assessing-finance-nature-based-solutions-2022.pdf

Chicago

Atteridge, Aaron, Dhyey Bhatpuria, Biljana Macura, Karina Barquet, and Jonathan Green. Assessing finance for nature-based solutions to climate change. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2022. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/sei-wp-assessing-finance-nature-based-solutions-2022.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Atteridge |first1=Aaron |last2=Bhatpuria |first2=Dhyey |last3=Macura |first3=Biljana |last4=Barquet |first4=Karina |last5=Green |first5=Jonathan |title=Assessing finance for nature-based solutions to climate change |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=November 2022 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/sei-wp-assessing-finance-nature-based-solutions-2022.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{atteridge2022assessing, author = {Atteridge, Aaron and Bhatpuria, Dhyey and Macura, Biljana and Barquet, Karina and Green, Jonathan}, title = {{Assessing finance for nature-based solutions to climate change}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2022}, month = nov, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/sei-wp-assessing-finance-nature-based-solutions-2022.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }