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The Finance for Nature Positive (FfNP) project aims to bridge the gap in harmonized definitions and guidance for private financial institutions investing in biodiversity. Led by the Finance for Biodiversity (FfB) Foundation and WWF-US, the project will create a stakeholder-driven framework across four pillars: mainstream companies, solution providers, real assets, and sovereign debt. Key outputs include implementation materials such as case studies and country profiles for GEF-recipient countries, and a peer-reviewed scientific article. The project targets 600 beneficiaries from the finance sector and seeks to catalyze increased financial flows toward nature-positive outcomes, aligning with Target 19 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The document argues that GDP fails to account for the 'care economy'—essential unpaid work primarily performed by women—and advocates for a cohesive, integrated system of indicators to measure these contributions. It highlights that women perform over 16 billion hours of unpaid care daily and suggests that current alternative metrics often still overlook these vital societal contributions.

Nedbank implemented the TNFD LEAP framework to assess nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities (DIROs) within its credit portfolio, primarily focusing on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Using a double materiality lens and tools like ENCORE and the WWF Water Risk Filter, the bank identified six priority sectors—real estate, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, mining and quarrying, energy, and agriculture—based on financial exposure and nature-related scores. While real estate had the highest financial exposure but low nature impact, primary sectors like agriculture and mining showed high dependency and impact. A specific review of a mining client revealed operational interfaces with Critical Biodiversity Areas and Strategic Groundwater Resource Areas, highlighting risks associated with South Africa's water scarcity. The bank is now moving into Phase 2 to quantify financial risks and identify nature-positive lending opportunities.

The briefing presents an economic case for investing in natural capital, asserting that nature-based solutions can provide over 50% of the cost-effective global mitigation needed for a 2°C pathway. It highlights that wetlands and forests generate trillions in annual ecosystem services, far exceeding the costs of their protection and the adaptation finance needs of developing countries. The text notes that while rehabilitating nature and transforming food systems can yield returns between 6.8 and 51 times the investment, current financial flows remain misaligned, with significant funding still directed toward harmful environmental subsidies.

The document argues that African countries face a precarious development finance landscape due to declining official development assistance (ODA) and a market bias known as the 'Africa premium'. It proposes that South Africa use its G20 presidency to advocate for a technical committee on financing barriers, host a Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable meeting on restructuring, facilitate dialogue with the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions, and coordinate with international conferences to promote a more equitable financial system.

The document addresses the significant underfunding of climate-smart agrifood systems, which contribute approximately 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It argues that while public and private capital have roles, concessional capital is essential for the 'missing middle'—investments with high social and environmental impact but sub-commercial returns. The playbook proposes five 'investment plays': deploying system-level approaches, supporting natural capital restoration, strengthening shared infrastructure, expanding technical assistance for innovation, and scaling local financial intermediaries. It includes a four-step framework for investor action: diagnosing the landscape, identifying financing gaps, designing instruments, and integrating partnerships.

FSD Africa and FirstRand have collaborated to implement TNFD frameworks within the African financial sector, focusing on capacity building and piloting disclosures in high-impact sectors like agriculture and extraction. The initiative included training 10 C-suite or board-level executives and conducting regulatory road-mapping and networking events via the African Natural Capital Alliance (ANCA) to address the continent's natural capital financing shortfall.

The 2030 Global Forest Vision provides a framework for governments to accelerate progress toward 2030 forest goals through actions in national planning, trade, finance, land rights, and governance. It emphasizes the need for integrated climate and biodiversity plans, the scaling of finance via mechanisms like the Tropical Forest Finance Facility (TFFF) and REDD+, and the recognition of Indigenous and local community land rights. The report also calls for financial regulators to address forest-related risks, the repurposing of harmful agricultural subsidies, and the restructuring of sovereign debt to value natural capital.

The report outlines nine fundamental principles of resilience science designed for decision-makers. It defines resilience as the capacity to cope, adapt, and transform, emphasizing that it is an active process rather than a passive state. Key themes include the necessity of diversity, the role of social and ecological relationships, the importance of managing trade-offs through collaborative governance, and the requirement to address power imbalances to ensure equitable outcomes. The document argues that proactive investment in resilience provides a 'triple dividend' by avoiding losses, stimulating economic growth, and delivering social and environmental benefits.

The report identifies four primary barriers to nature-integrated finance: the underestimation of nature's intrinsic value, regulatory gaps, challenges in scaling nature-based financing, and a knowledge gap within financial institutions. It argues that the financial sector is critical for redirecting global capital toward biodiversity protection, noting a biodiversity financing gap of $700 billion annually. To address these, the document details the 'Locate' phase of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) LEAP approach, guiding institutions through scoping, identifying dependencies and impacts using tools like ENCORE, and mapping intersections with ecologically sensitive locations. It provides practical examples from entities such as Banco de Bogotá, Banco Bolivariano, and Grupo Sura to demonstrate how spatial analysis and heat maps can identify material nature-related risks in investment portfolios.

The document provides a methodology for Colombian financial institutions to align their Environmental and Social Risk Management Systems (SARAS) with Circular Externa 015 of 2025. It proposes using the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework, the LEAP approach (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare), and the ENCORE tool to identify, measure, control, and monitor nature-related risks and opportunities across their portfolios.

The briefing highlights that ecosystem services are worth over USD 150 trillion annually, while biodiversity loss costs the global economy more than USD 5 trillion per year. It asserts that the economic costs of nature destruction often exceed the benefits of exploitation, citing examples like EU nitrogen pollution and the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone. The text emphasizes that nature-related risks are transboundary, where deforestation in the Amazon or Southeast Asia impacts regional rainfall and coral reefs. It concludes that investing in biodiversity is significantly more affordable than the energy transition to net-zero, though a funding gap of approximately USD 830 billion per year remains.

The policy brief argues that African countries face a crisis of 'debt that is too expensive' rather than too much debt, which hinders human development and the energy transition. It proposes a Cost of Capital Commission composed of high-level experts to recommend reforms to credit rating agency methodologies, Basel III macro-prudential regulations, and the integration of natural capital and remittances into debt sustainability analyses.

The report finds that while infrastructure investors have integrated climate change considerations, they lag in measuring other nature impacts like habitat change and pollution. It identifies physical and transition risks associated with biodiversity loss and highlights a shift toward 'nature-positive' investments driven by evolving regulations such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The document provides case studies of leading practices, including the use of eDNA soil testing and sustainability-linked loans, while noting that a lack of usable data remains a primary barrier to widespread adoption of quantitative biodiversity metrics.

The document asserts that nature loss is a "macro-critical" threat to financial stability, with potential global economic costs of $5 trillion over five years. It details how policy, legal, reputational, and physical risks are already impacting corporate balance sheets, citing examples such as Tesla's Gigafactory delays and significant financial losses from mishandled nature interactions. The briefing identifies five priority themes for investors through 2025: framework alignment (e.g., TNFD), leveraging AI for deforestation data, managing ocean-related impacts in the blue economy, pursuing 'nature alpha' for financial returns, and active policy engagement to reverse biodiversity loss.

The 2023 assessment by WWF reveals that while 31% of the 42 analyzed asset managers showed minor or moderate improvements in managing nature and biodiversity risks, specific action regarding the seafood sector remains low. Only one asset manager has publicly disclosed seafood-specific E&S expectations for investee companies. The report highlights significant gaps in expectations regarding sustainability certifications and supply chain traceability. It notes a positive trend in Japanese asset managers' progress, likely driven by national biodiversity and IUU fishing regulations. WWF recommends that asset managers formalize biodiversity risk statements into actionable policies, set time-bound sustainability targets, and develop targeted 'blue' financial products to support a sustainable blue economy.

The brief analyzes financial capital trends in Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Trinidad and Tobago between 1995 and 2020, noting that while financial capital generally contributes positively to total wealth, Ethiopia and Trinidad and Tobago saw an increase in liabilities over assets toward the end of the period. It recommends diversifying debt financing sources, particularly for Trinidad and Tobago, and improving public debt management and governance to ensure long-term resilience.

The document reports that natural capital in Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Trinidad and Tobago is poorly managed, with per capita market natural capital stocks stagnating or declining after 2008. It highlights a dangerous concentration of market natural capital in agricultural land for Ethiopia, and in oil, gas, and minerals for Indonesia and Trinidad and Tobago, while noting that non-market natural capital is threatened by climate change and population growth.

The report argues that while GDP growth suggests sound economic development in Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2020, an analysis of comprehensive wealth reveals an unsustainable path. The country's wealth is heavily skewed toward the petroleum industry, leaving non-oil sectors like agriculture, fisheries, and forestry under-invested. Additionally, human capital has declined globally from 35th in 2009 to 46th in 2018, and financial capital contributes little to overall wealth despite sovereign wealth fund efforts.

The report advocates for moving beyond GDP by adopting a 'comprehensive wealth' framework that measures natural, human, social, produced, and financial capital. Using data from 1995 to 2020, the report demonstrates that GDP often masks unsustainable development trends. In Trinidad and Tobago, fossil fuel reliance led to declining comprehensive wealth and well-being from 2008. Indonesia showed a decrease in well-being created per unit of wealth between 1995 and 2020. Ethiopia is advised to shift produced capital investments from manufacturing toward modern farming to enhance wealth growth.