Natural capital is a high-return investment in resilience

This briefing outlines the economic case for investing in natural capital, demonstrating that nature-based solutions in forests, wetlands, and food systems provide returns ranging from 6.8 to 51 times the investment. It highlights that such investments could provide over 50% of the cost-effective mitigation needed for a 2°C pathway and significantly reduce climate-related losses in developing countries, despite current financial flows remaining misaligned and skewed toward harmful environmental subsidies.

• Investing in natural capital provides significant cost-effective emissions mitigation. Land-based solutions, combined with demand-side measures like waste reduction and dietary change, could provide 50% or more of the cost-effective global mitigation required to limit warming to 2°C. This potential is primarily concentrated in tropical developing regions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In these tropical countries, solutions such as agroforestry, mangrove restoration, and reforestation could mitigate over half of national emissions in at least 50% of countries, and exceed total emissions in approximately 25%.
• Nature-based solutions offer substantial economic returns and cost savings compared to traditional 'grey' infrastructure and climate-related losses. Protecting and restoring nature can reduce the intensity of weather- and climate-related hazards by at least 26%, which could save developing countries at least USD 104 billion in 2030. Furthermore, nature-based infrastructure for services like water purification can cost half as much as man-made alternatives; if 11% of global development infrastructure needs were met this way, it would save USD 248 billion annually, or nearly 6% of the global annual infrastructure budget.
• Wetlands and forests provide ecosystem services with values that dwarf current adaptation finance needs. Wetlands generate USD 39.01 trillion annually (36.7% of 2023 global GDP), with a median annual value of USD 8 trillion—roughly 40 times the annual adaptation finance needed in developing countries (USD 215 billion). Forests provide annual ecosystem services valued at over USD 7.5 trillion, which is 100 times the USD 75 billion per year needed for adaptation finance for smallholder farmers.
• Transforming global food systems and reversing land degradation offer high returns on investment. Current unsustainable food systems cost society USD 15 trillion annually, but transformation could yield net benefits of USD 5 to 10 trillion per year. With investment costs between USD 200-500 billion annually, the return is estimated at 11 to 51 times the initial outlay. Additionally, land degradation, drought, and desertification cost the global economy USD 878 billion annually, which is more than double the USD 355 billion per year required to address these issues by 2030.
• There is a significant misalignment in financial flows toward natural capital. While the economic case is strong, public and private funding for conservation and restoration is insufficient. In 2023, annual forest investment was USD 84 billion, which was only about one-fifth of the USD 406 billion spent on potentially damaging environmental subsidies. Furthermore, private financial institutions provided nearly USD 9 trillion in 2024 to companies with high tropical deforestation risk.

APA

Bentley-McKune, J. (2025). Natural capital is a high-return investment in resilience. Zero Carbon Analytics. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/natural-capital-is-a-high-return-investment-in-resilience/

Chicago

Bentley-McKune, Joanne. Natural capital is a high-return investment in resilience. Zero Carbon Analytics, 2025. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/natural-capital-is-a-high-return-investment-in-resilience/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bentley-McKune |first1=Joanne |title=Natural capital is a high-return investment in resilience |publisher=Zero Carbon Analytics |date=18 November 2025 |url=https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/natural-capital-is-a-high-return-investment-in-resilience/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bentleymckune2025natural, author = {Bentley-McKune, Joanne}, title = {{Natural capital is a high-return investment in resilience}}, institution = {Zero Carbon Analytics}, year = {2025}, month = nov, url = {https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/natural-capital-is-a-high-return-investment-in-resilience/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }