Investing in Forests: The Business Case

The report outlines how businesses across different dependency levels—high, low, and high-emission—can create value through forest investments. It identifies three primary value drivers: business resilience (reducing supply, demand, capital, and regulatory risks), profitability and growth (via sustainable products and carbon markets), and values-based leadership (improving trust and talent attraction). The document provides a framework for implementation, emphasizing the protection of existing forests, partnership with local and Indigenous communities, and the prioritization of projects that deliver both environmental and social benefits.

• Nature loss and climate change pose severe financial risks to the global economy, with $44 trillion of economic value generation—over half of global GDP—being moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services.
• The economic potential of intact forests is immense, with one estimate valuing them at up to $150 trillion, approximately double the value of global stock markets.
• Businesses can create value through three main pathways: enhancing resilience against physical and regulatory risks, driving profitability through sustainable forest products and carbon credits, and strengthening brand reputation through values-based leadership.
• For businesses with high forest dependency, agroforestry and sustainable forest management can increase profitability; for example, sustainable management for timber, pulp, and paper could generate $165 billion in additional annual revenue by 2030.
• Low-dependency businesses, particularly in technology and finance, can grow by developing digital monitoring tools or new financial products, such as blended finance and green bonds, to support forest conservation.
• High-emission businesses can use forest investments to mitigate residual emissions as part of a net-zero strategy, provided these are complementary to primary goals of avoiding and reducing emissions.
• Successful forest investments must follow five key principles: protecting existing forests first, partnering with local and Indigenous communities, preventing emissions as a priority, prioritizing combined environmental and social benefits, and planning for the right trees in the right regions.
• The report highlights the 'circular bioeconomy' as a way to replace carbon-intensive materials with sustainable forest products, such as cross-laminated timber (CLT), which can reduce construction time by approximately 20%.

APA

World Economic Forum (2021). Investing in Forests: The Business Case. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Investing_in_Forests_2021.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Investing in Forests: The Business Case. 2021. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Investing_in_Forests_2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Investing in Forests: The Business Case |date=June 2021 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Investing_in_Forests_2021.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2021investing, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Investing in Forests: The Business Case}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Investing_in_Forests_2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }