For every dollar spent protecting nature, $30 is spent destroying it, according to a stark new report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) today, which warns that global finance continues to drive environmental damage rather than recovery.
The report, The State of Finance for Nature 2026, based on 2023 data, shows that $7.3 trillion a year is flowing into activities that harm ecosystems, compared with just $220 billion invested in nature-based solutions such as restoring forests, wetlands and soils.
The bulk of this environmentally damaging finance comes from the private sector. Of the $7.3 trillion total, $4.9 trillion originates from private investment, concentrated in utilities, industrials, energy and basic materials. Governments also play a significant role, providing $2.4 trillion a year in environmentally harmful subsidies, including support for fossil fuels, agriculture, transport, water and construction.
By contrast, almost 90 per cent of funding for nature-based solutions comes from public sources, underlining the failure of private finance to invest at scale. Private investment amounts to just $23.4 billion — around 10 per cent of total spending — despite mounting evidence of the economic risks posed by biodiversity loss and climate change.
UNEP says investment in nature-based solutions must rise two-and-a-half times to $571 billion a year by 2030 to meet global climate and biodiversity targets. Even then, the required spending would represent only 0.5 per cent of global GDP.
“If you follow the money, you see the scale of the challenge,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “We can either invest in nature’s destruction or power its recovery — there is no middle ground. While funding for nature-based solutions crawls forward, harmful investments and subsidies are racing ahead.”
To help reverse the imbalance, the report introduces a new framework known as the Nature Transition X-Curve, designed to guide governments and businesses in phasing out damaging subsidies and investments while scaling up high-quality, nature-positive finance across the economy.
The framework outlines how sectors including energy, transport, construction and food production can shift away from environmentally harmful practices while accelerating investment in solutions that work with nature rather than against it.
“The world’s financial flows urgently need to shift from degrading the environment to investing in nature-based solutions,” said Reem Alabali-Radovan, Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, who emphasised the crucial role of the private sector alongside public finance.
The report highlights early examples of what a future “nature-positive economy” could look like, including greener cities to reduce heatwave impacts, nature-friendly road and energy infrastructure, and building materials that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
However, UNEP warns that such investments must be rooted in local ecological, cultural and social contexts, and designed to be inclusive and equitable if they are to deliver lasting benefits.
Without a rapid shift in global financial flows, the report concludes, efforts to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental risk will continue to fall dangerously short.