Mar 2025
Balancing Bankability and Integrity: fostering investment-ready nature-based solutions
As climate change and biodiversity loss intensify, the world must nearly triple its annual spending on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) from US$200 billion to US$542 billion by 2030. Mobilising substantial private and public investment is critical, yet questions remain about how best to align financial returns needed for repayment of investments (“bankability”) with the social and ecological integrity that make NbS truly effective.
Based on research by Wild Business for WWF, this report offers a clear roadmap for doing just that, spotlighting core tensions and practical strategies to overcome them. It draws on interviews with private finance stakeholders and experts, a literature review, and insights from WWF’s NbS Accelerator programme, where projects around the world have grappled with attracting private, returnable funding. Four central tensions emerge: (1) the need to generate short-term returns versus the multi-year commitment required for lasting community and ecological benefits; (2) the emphasis on measurable, profit-driven metrics versus intangible but crucial social and cultural values; (3) investor preferences for certainty versus the adaptive, participatory governance NbS demand; and (4) misaligned incentives that may place disproportionate risk on local communities.
Through real-world examples and actionable solutions, the report underscores how well-managed NbS can be profitable and transformational. It shows investors how long-term thinking, blended finance, and robust safeguards can unlock innovation and inspire local collaboration. Likewise, it guides practitioners in designing projects that deliver the financial returns and enduring benefits investors seek—without sacrificing rights, biodiversity, or equitable benefit-sharing.
Ultimately, carefully managing potential tensions ensures that investors, communities, and ecosystems all benefit in ways that remain viable for the long haul. Download the report to discover how a commitment to shared understanding—combined with collaboration, robust safeguards, and innovative financing—can help foster long-lasting benefits for people, nature, and the climate, with actionable insights for investors, practitioners, standard setters, and regulators.