Over half of global GDP depends on nature, making clear the need to finance its protection and restoration.
The Global Ethical Finance Initiative has promoted the role of the finance sector in protecting and restoring nature and biodiversity since 2018.
GEFI has worked closely with UNDP to connect the finance sector with nature in support of delivering the SDGs, and has more recently partnered with the British Embassy UAE on the Nature to Capital Markets in the GCC programme.
Nature-based solutions to climate change represent an extremely powerful tool to limit global temperatures, and present a commercial opportunity for financial institutions.
Finance for Nature Series
Nature to Capital Markets in the GCC
This programme, supported by the British Embassy UAE, aims to deliver practical market guidance to support the issuance of Green-Blue Bonds and Sukuk featuring a TFND aligned toolkit, to be launched in March 2026, alongside a series of associated in-person and virtual events.
GEFI Insights Series
COP16 marked the first Biodiversity COP since the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, that will guide action for nature towards 2030, was adopted at COP15 in Montreal.
Across 2024, the GEFI Insights Series nature theme sought to build momentum ahead of COP16 in Columbia to ensure finance flows to where it is most needed.
2022 Nature for Life Hub
Protecting nature and creating a healthy future will require a radical systems change throughout society. Learn practical ways that we can redesign the world for a nature-positive future at the Nature for Life Hub, which GEFI contributed to.
2021 Path to COP26
Following the 2020 Finance for Nature Virtual Global Series, a global coalition of partners, including GEFI, UNDP, UNEP, Climate Advisers and the New York Declaration on Forests Global Platform are developing a programme of events leading in to COP26, and aligned with GEFI’s Path to COP26.
2020 Virtual Global Series
Following the success of the inaugural “Finance for Nature Global Summit”, GEFI, UNDP, UNEP, the New York Declaration on Forests Global Platform and Climate Advisers convened the Finance for Nature Virtual Global Series to accelerate momentum on nature-based finance in advance of the UN Climate and Biodiversity COPs in 2021.
Taking place via Zoom on 20/21 July 2020, the summit brought together industry champions from finance, insurance, consumer goods companies and standard-setting regulators to drive practical commitments on investing in nature.
2019 Global Summit
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Scottish-Government backed Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI), together with the New York Declaration on Forests Global Platform, gathered experts in Edinburgh, Scotland, to develop financial solutions that drive socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable development.
The two-day “Finance for Nature Global Summit,” hosted by independent investment manager Baillie Gifford, brought together Government officials, financial institutions, consumer goods corporations, supply chain intermediaries and conservation organisations to explore a new investment paradigm aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Finance for Nature Series
2022 Nature for Life Hub
Protecting nature and creating a healthy future will require a radical systems change throughout society. Learn practical ways that we can redesign the world for a nature-positive future at the Nature for Life Hub, which GEFI contributed to.
2021 Path to COP26
Following the 2020 Finance for Nature Virtual Global Series, a global coalition of partners, including GEFI, UNDP, UNEP, Climate Advisers and the New York Declaration on Forests Global Platform are developing a programme of events leading in to COP26, and aligned with GEFI’s Path to COP26.
2020 Virtual Global Series
Following the success of the inaugural “Finance for Nature Global Summit”, GEFI, UNDP, UNEP, the New York Declaration on Forests Global Platform and Climate Advisers convened the Finance for Nature Virtual Global Series to accelerate momentum on nature-based finance in advance of the UN Climate and Biodiversity COPs in 2021.
Taking place via Zoom on 20/21 July 2020, the summit brought together industry champions from finance, insurance, consumer goods companies and standard-setting regulators to drive practical commitments on investing in nature.
2019 Global Summit
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Scottish-Government backed Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI), together with the New York Declaration on Forests Global Platform, gathered experts in Edinburgh, Scotland, to develop financial solutions that drive socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable development.
The two-day “Finance for Nature Global Summit,” hosted by independent investment manager Baillie Gifford, brought together Government officials, financial institutions, consumer goods corporations, supply chain intermediaries and conservation organisations to explore a new investment paradigm aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Learn more
- Watch all of GEFI’s nature-focused content on our EFx platform
- Read Investing in the Planet’s Safety Net: Biodiversity Finance Stories from the Field from UNDP BIOFIN – Biodiversity Finance Initiative
- Read A Market Review of Nature-Based Solutions from Finance Earth
- Read The why and how of biodiversity integration by financial institutions from the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge
- Read When finance talks nature from WWF
- Read Nature Risk Rising: Why the Crisis Engulfing Nature Matters for Business and the Economy from the World Economic Forum