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UN report finds global finance overwhelmingly favours activities that harm nature
For every US$1 spent on protecting ecosystems, more than US$30 is spent on destruction
Fossil fuels, agriculture and heavy industry dominate nature-negative investment
Nature-based solutions funding is rising but remains far below what is needed by 2030
UNEP warns failure to redirect finance will worsen climate, biodiversity and pollution crises
For every $1 invested globally in protecting nature, around $30 is spent on activities that damage it, according to a new United Nations report highlighting the scale of imbalance in global environmental finance.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report, State of Finance for Nature 2026, finds that finance directly harmful to nature reached $7.3 trillion, while investment in nature-based solutions (NbS) amounted to just $220 billion. The resulting ratio of more than 30:1 in favour of nature-negative activities, the report warns, is fuelling the “triple planetary crisis” of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
According to UNEP, spending on nature-negative activities totalled $7.4 trillion in 2023. Of this, around $5 trillion came from private investment concentrated in a small number of high-impact sectors, including utilities, industrials, energy and basic materials.
A further $2.4 trillion was channelled through environmentally harmful subsidies, largely supporting fossil fuels, agriculture and water use, the report said.
The UNEP report stressed that investment in NbS must increase by at least 2.5 times to reach $571 billion per year by 2030 if countries are to meet their environmental and climate commitments. As of 2024, spending on NbS accounted for just 0.5 per cent of global gross domestic product.
The report is intended as both a financial assessment and a technical analysis, aimed at helping policymakers, businesses, financiers and civil society make informed decisions about scaling up NbS investment while reducing nature-negative capital flows or the capital flows that harm ecosystems.
Public spending on NbS linked to sustainable agriculture, forestry and fisheries fell by around four per cent between 2021 and 2023, declining from $69 billion to $66 billion. Finance for NbS through environmental policy and wastewater management also dropped over the same period, by $980 million and $620 million respectively.
Private philanthropy channelled about $271 million into NbS in 2023, marking a sharp decline of around 60 per cent from its peak of $692 million in 2021. The value of nature-based carbon offsets in voluntary carbon markets fell by 57 per cent in 2023, reflecting growing caution among buyers over project integrity and methodologies.
Despite the overall imbalance, the report identified several areas of positive momentum.
Private investment in sectors most harmful to nature, including oil and gas, declined from $990 billion in 2020 to $519 billion in 2023 — a reduction of 48 per cent over four years.
Overall public and private finance flows to NbS reached an estimated $220 billion in 2023, representing a five per cent increase compared with 2022. “Finance flows for NbS have increased steadily, reflecting increased uptake based on their ability to address climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation,” UNEP noted.
Public domestic expenditure remained the largest source of NbS finance, totalling $190 billion in 2023, up four per cent on the previous year. Spending on biodiversity and landscape protection increased by 11 per cent, although support for agriculture, forestry and fishing declined.
“Despite its size, public domestic spending remains modest when compared with environmentally harmful subsidies, which continue to exceed $2 trillion annually,” the report said. Aligning national budgets with commitments to halt biodiversity loss, meet climate targets and achieve land-degradation neutrality was described as critical for both human well-being and sustainable economic growth.
Official Development Finance (ODF) for NbS rose to $6.8 billion in 2023, a 22 per cent increase on 2022 and 55 per cent higher than in 2015. UNEP said ODF remained a crucial enabler for scaling NbS in developing countries.
Private finance mobilised by public ODF reached an estimated $878 million in 2023, representing a 160 per cent increase from the previous year. “However, ODF budgets are under heavy pressure in 2024 and 2025 due to the geopolitical situation, which will likely constrain future flows,” UNEP cautioned.
Regionally, government spending on NbS was highest in Asia in 2023 at $93 billion, although this represented a four per cent decline compared with 2022. North America followed with $59 billion, while Europe accounted for $34 billion.
North America recorded the largest year-on-year increase in NbS spending, at more than 19 per cent. Europe saw growth of around 12 per cent, while Latin America recorded an increase of more than 10 per cent. By contrast, NbS spending fell sharply in Africa, the Middle East and Oceania, declining by 76 per cent, 11 per cent and four per cent respectively.
The report also noted a reduction in public finance flows to environmentally harmful subsidies, which fell to an estimated $2.4 trillion in 2023 — an 18 per cent decline from historically high levels in 2022. Fossil fuels continued to receive the largest share, accounting for 47 per cent of such subsidies, followed by agriculture and water use at 17 per cent each.
UNEP attributed the decline primarily to reduced fossil fuel subsidies, which had almost doubled between 2021 and 2022 to $1.78 trillion during the global energy crisis.
While acknowledging the recent progress, the report warned that a business-as-usual approach would further degrade ecosystems. It said governments, companies, consumers and investors had the capacity to redirect financial flows and unlock resilience, equity and growth.
To meet global commitments under the Rio Conventions, UNEP concluded, investment in nature-based solutions must rise to at least $571 billion annually by 2030, while finance that harms nature must be phased out or repurposed.