NatureFinance

When we think about medical innovation, we rarely think about tropical forests. New research suggests we should. A new report from Zero Carbon Analytics highlights a powerful but often overlooked connection between biodiversity, public health and economic resilience. Tropical forests are more than carbon sinks. They are living libraries of genetic information that underpin modern drug discovery and future medical innovation. Key findings: ▪️ Tropical forests could hold USD 714 billion in undiscovered commercial drug-discovery value from flowering plants alone. ▪️ The potential social and health value of these undiscovered pharmaceuticals is estimated in the order of USD 7 trillion. ▪️ Tropical forest clearing since 2001 may have placed USD 86 billion in commercial drug-discovery value at risk. ▪️ Fully halting deforestation by 2030 could preserve USD 79 billion in commercial value and USD 790 billion in social value by 2050, compared with business as usual. The research also raises a question of fairness. The global pharmaceutical market was worth USD 1.7 trillion in 2025. Yet the countries, Indigenous Peoples and local communities protecting the ecosystems behind that value often receive little in return. If future medical innovation depends on nature’s genetic library, shouldn’t more of that value flow back to the people and places protecting it? 🔗 Read the full findings: https://lnkd.in/d3k5w-zm Joanne Bentley-McKune, Victoria Kalyvas, Business for Nature, Monique Atouguia 

The cheapest way to secure a city's water supply is often the one investors never consider. When infrastructure planners face a water crisis, the default response is usually grey infrastructure: desalination plants, new dams, expanded treatment capacity. Nature-based alternatives rarely make it into the same appraisal. Our latest report with The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) uses Cape Town as one of three case studies showing why this needs to change. During the 2015-2018 drought, the city faced the prospect of "Day Zero," the point at which water supplies for roughly 4.6 million residents would be switched off as reservoirs reached critically low levels. The immediate response focused on avoiding disaster. But the longer-term lesson came from looking upstream. Invasive alien trees had colonised more than two-thirds of the catchments feeding the city's dams, consuming an estimated 55 billion litres a year that never reached the reservoirs. Analysis showed that clearing the invasive trees could deliver water at a fraction of the cost of desalination: 💧 Catchment restoration: R1.2/m³ 💧 Desalination: R14.9/m³ Yet comparisons like this are still the exception rather than the rule. Grey and green infrastructure are rarely evaluated as one connected system. As a result, the natural systems that support water supply, reduce treatment costs and strengthen resilience are often undervalued in investment decisions. Our report introduces a practical framework to help decision-makers integrate water and ecosystem conditions into investment decisions. 👉 Swipe through our carousel for the full Cape Town story 🔗 Read the blog:  https://lnkd.in/ekEaDq3R 🔗 Download the full report: https://lnkd.in/e_cg3M2E Samruddhi K., Stuart Cannon, Marco Serena, Julie McCarthy, Martin Potgieter, Dr Robin Daniels, The Nature Conservancy in Africa, City of Cape Town, Nature for Water, Louise Stafford, South African National Biodiversity Institute, The Nature Conservancy, RMB - Rand Merchant Bank, Leonardo Manus

🌿 How is your organisation putting nature-related assessment and reporting into practice? The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has launched its 2026 Status Report Survey, providing an opportunity to help shape the global picture of progress on nature-related assessment, reporting and decision-making. The findings will inform TNFD's second annual Status Report, to be released during Climate Week NYC in September 2026, tracking how organisations across sectors and regions are implementing the TNFD recommendations. The survey is open to: ▪️ Report preparers, including corporates, banks and insurers. ▪️ Report users, including asset owners, asset managers and financial institutions. ▪️ Report enablers, including consultants, data providers, NGOs, academic institutions and other organisations supporting implementation. ⏱️ The survey takes around 20 minutes to complete. 📅 Deadline: Friday 14 August If your organisation is involved in nature-related assessment, reporting or decision-making, we encourage you to take part and help build a clearer picture of global market progress. 🔗 Take the survey: https://lnkd.in/dzeJ6Gtj Emily McKenzie, Tony Goldner, David Craig, Julie McCarthy

📣 Last chance to register! Join us tomorrow to hear leaders from community enterprises, development finance, banking, and regional bioeconomy initiatives explore a central question: How can socio-bioeconomy stakeholders in Africa and financiers communicate more effectively to scale bioeconomic activities on the continent? 🕒 15:00 - 16:30 UTC+3 🔗 Register: https://lnkd.in/eS7QkGfP Wanjira Mathai, Eliane Ubalijoro, Cecile Ndjebet, Dorothy Maseke, Verónica Gálmez Márquez, Alphonse MAINDO, Guilherme Bircol, WRI Climate, WRI Finance

Investors are able to invest in sovereign sustainability-linked bonds. So why is the market still only 0.7% of global sovereign debt? A new report from the Sustainable Sovereign Debt Hub (SSDH) and the Inter-American Development Bank explores what is holding the market back. Based on a survey of 12 emerging and developed market debt asset managers and owners, representing approximately US$11.5 trillion in assets under management, the findings suggest that the constraint is not simply investor appetite. ▪️ 100% of respondents said they are able to invest in sovereign sustainability-linked bonds. ▪️ 75% have already invested. ▪️ 50% reported no material constraints limiting their ability to invest. So why hasn't the market scaled? Our research suggests the answer lies in the market infrastructure needed to support wider adoption. Investors highlighted the importance of: ▪️ Better guidance on KPI selection and SPT calibration ▪️ Greater comparability across issuances ▪️ Stronger benchmark data and peer comparisons ▪️ More consistent reporting and verification ▪️ Improved transparency around impact data and methodologies Scaling the market will depend not only on whether investors are willing to invest in these instruments, but on whether they can assess, price and compare them with confidence. 🔗 Read the full report: https://lnkd.in/ejjPNQMB Oyindamola Hussain, Barbara Oldani, Gregor Pipan, Joan Prats, Alexander Vasa, Patricio Sepulveda, Valentina Marquez, Pedro Elosegui, Monica Chavez Lemos, Starla Griffin, Martina Tamvakou, Mario Huzel, Eva Sirp

❓ How do we finance Africa’s bioeconomy by backing the enterprises already rooted in local communities? Across Africa, community-led enterprises are already restoring ecosystems, creating jobs and building resilient local economies. Many are also shaping the future of Africa’s bioeconomy from the ground up, through nature-based business models, local stewardship and deep knowledge of the landscapes they depend on. The challenge is how to build a financial architecture that can recognise that value, reduce barriers to investment and help these enterprises grow. 🗓️ Join us on 28 July for a webinar exploring practical ways to strengthen investment in Africa’s nature-based economy, with leaders from finance, community organisations, development institutions and the bioeconomy. Speakers include: ▪️ Wanjira Mathai, WRI Africa ▪️ Eliane Ubalijoro, Landscape Alliance | CIFOR & ICRAF ▪️ Cecile Ndjebet, REFACOF ▪️ Dorothy Maseke, FSD Africa ▪️ Verónica Gálmez Márquez,  Inter-American Development Bank ▪️ Alphonse MAINDO, Tropenbos RD Congo ▪️ Guilherme Bircol, NatureFinance Together, they will explore how financing models, investment partnerships and enabling institutions can better support community ownership, value local knowledge and unlock greater investment in Africa’s bioeconomy. 🕒  15:00 - 16:30 UTC+3 💬Available in English and French 🔗 Register: https://lnkd.in/eS7QkGfP World Resources Institute, Laurie Lewis, WRI Finance, WRI Climate

💧 We finance the final asset, but not the natural infrastructure that keeps it operating. Water treatment plants rely on upstream catchments. Urban flood systems rely on wetlands, soils and permeable surfaces. Water-dependent transport routes rely on rainfall patterns that may no longer be predictable. Yet these dependencies are often treated as fixed environmental conditions rather than financial variables. When water systems deteriorate, the consequences show up directly in project economics: higher operating costs, lower output, greater downtime, weaker debt service coverage and shorter asset lives. Water risk is increasingly recognised as financially material. But that recognition is still rarely reflected in how infrastructure projects are priced, financed and governed. This week, NatureFinance and The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) are launching a new report that examines how changing water systems are affecting infrastructure costs, reliability and investment risk. Across the analysis, four recurring gaps emerge: ▪️ Grey and green infrastructure are rarely assessed as parts of the same system ▪️ Ecosystem risk often sits with the project by default because it has not been explicitly priced or allocated ▪️ The ecosystems supporting infrastructure rarely receive long-term funding for the services they provide ▪️ Insurance coverage for large-scale water and ecosystem risk remains limited Drawing on case studies from emerging and developing economies, the report traces how these gaps affect projects, investors and the public institutions responsible for essential infrastructure. It also introduces a seven-step framework to help investors and developers identify, price, allocate and manage water-related risk throughout the life of an asset. As water demand rises and ecosystems come under increasing pressure, the natural systems that keep our infrastructure operating can no longer sit outside the financial model. Water conditions are changing. The assumptions underpinning infrastructure finance need to change with them. 🔗 Read the blog:  https://lnkd.in/ekEaDq3R 🔗 Download the full report: https://lnkd.in/e_cg3M2E Samruddhi K., Stuart Cannon, Marco Serena, Julie McCarthy, Martin Potgieter, Rupesh Madlani, Isobel Cohen, Monique Atouguia, Borja Gonzalez Reguero, Erik Berglof, Dr Robin Daniels.

🆕 Moody’s has published a new FAQ clarifying how debt pause clauses may affect sovereign credit quality. As sovereigns face increasingly frequent external shocks, there is growing interest in contractual mechanisms that can provide temporary liquidity relief while dealing with emergency expenditure needs. Greater clarity on the potential rating implications is therefore important for both issuers and investors. The London Coalition on Sustainable Sovereign Debt’s Bondholder Working Group proposal is discussed throughout the FAQ, reinforcing several principles at the centre of the London Coalition’s approach. Moody's notes that: ▪️ Debt pause clauses are primarily liquidity management tools, rather than solutions to solvency challenges. ▪️ All else being equal, the option to temporarily pause debt service can be credit positive, providing transparent, pre-agreed liquidity relief during periods of stress. ▪️ Activation of a contractual debt pause clause would not itself constitute a default, provided it is exercised in accordance with the original bond terms. ▪️ Broader trigger mechanisms, combined with appropriate contractual safeguards, can strengthen the effectiveness of debt pause clauses. ▪️The ultimate credit impact remains case-specific, depending on the severity of the shock, the liquidity relief provided, and the sovereign's broader policy response. Importantly, Moody's explicitly discusses the London Coalition's proposal, including its use of broader, observable triggers, contractual safeguards, synchronisation incentives, and implementation work to support practical market adoption. Together with Fitch Ratings recent criteria update, Moody's Ratings FAQ gives issuers and investors greater clarity on how contractual pause clauses can support liquidity, resilience and orderly sovereign debt markets. 🔗 Read Moody's FAQ (sign-in required): https://lnkd.in/dsG32MSQ 🔗 Read the Bondholder Working Group proposal: https://lnkd.in/eFUAatPH The Sustainable Sovereign Debt Hub (SSDH) serves as Secretariat to the London Coalition on Sustainable Sovereign Debt. Starla Griffin, MCIArb, Barbara Oldani, Martina Tamvakou, Oyindamola Hussain, Mario Huzel, Eva Sirp

What if insurance premium subsidies could do for climate resilience what feed-in tariffs did for solar energy? Insurance is one of the most effective tools for helping communities, businesses and governments recover from climate shocks. Yet in many low-and middle-income countries, insurance remains out of reach. Premiums are unaffordable for many of those most exposed, just as climate and nature risks are increasing. Our new engagement brief argues that premium subsidies can do more than make insurance cheaper. Well-designed subsidies can create predictable demand, deepen insurance markets, diversify risk pools and help lower costs over time. But there is an important distinction. Conventional subsidies reward insurance uptake. Resilience-linked premium subsidies go further by tying support to measurable actions that reduce physical risk. This can strengthen incentives for adaptation while aligning the interests of governments, insurers, donors, supply-chain actors and policyholders. The brief sets out five principles for designing subsidy schemes that are effective, scalable and financially sustainable. These include linking support to measurable risk reduction, choosing financially material KPIs, sharing costs across public and private actors, strengthening market infrastructure, and recognising resilience gains in sovereign risk assessments. The aim is not simply to expand insurance coverage. It is to build insurance markets that reduce future losses, lower disaster-related fiscal pressures, and strengthen resilience over time. 🔗 Read the blog: https://lnkd.in/eWfPP26B 📑 Download the brief: https://lnkd.in/erT-nJAp Samuel Brown, Gustavo Martins, Arend Kulenkampff, Sumati Rajput, Prof Nicola Ranger, Simon Zadek, Helge Sigurd Næss-Schmidt, David Maslo, Benedikt Signer, Kay Tuschen, Solène Podevin Favre, Sitara Merchant Carter, Charlie Langdale, Isaac Anthony , Karsten Löffler.