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Can investments contribute to protecting biodiversity?

On behalf of RS Group, we looked at different ways in which financial markets and investors can contribute to reducing the destruction of tropical forests and the unsustainable use of land and oceans, while helping to mitigate climate change and to provide a livelihood to local communities for them to become stewards of local ecosystems. Given our economic system does not allocate a value to natural capital, it is almost impossible to design investment structures that will be financially attractive for commercial investors, unless concessionary capital or grants are used to de-risk or enhance returns. This is exactly what blended finance structures (e.g. structured funds, bonds and other vehicles) aim for.

Together with RS Group we found that more innovation is needed in the field and on 11 November 2019 RS Group and Convergence (a think-tank specialised in the field) launched a US$3 million design funding window for innovative and catalytic blended finance solutions focused on natural capital in Asia. By supporting the design of new blended finance structures, the window will draw new investors into this critical, but underfunded development area. Asia’s enormous economic growth in the last few decades has come at a high cost to its environment, leading to deterioration of land, freshwater, and marine ecosystems and exacerbating water and food insecurity and climate vulnerability. Globally, it is estimated that there is a US$200-300 billion gap per year to preserve the world’s last healthy ecosystems.

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