Close to USD 7 trillion is invested globally each year in activities that have a direct negative impact on nature from both public and private sector sources—equivalent to roughly seven per cent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the State of Finance for Nature report released on Saturday at COP28 by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners.

The report finds that in 2022, investments in nature-based solutions totalled approximately USD 200 billion, but finance flows to activities directly harming nature were more than 30 times larger. It exposes a concerning disparity between the volumes of finance to nature-based solutions and nature-negative finance flows, an
d underscores the urgency to address the interconnected crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation.