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A new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has revealed that the world is investing far more in destroying nature than in saving it.
The report, The State of Finance for Nature 2026, released on Thursday and obtained in Benin City, Edo State, noted that for every dollar spent on protecting ecosystems, 30 dollars were channelled into environmentally harmful activities.
The UNEP report painted a troubling picture of global financial flows, showing that while nature-based solutions are gaining attention, they remain dwarfed by investments and subsidies that fuel environmental degradation.
Using 2023 data, the report showed that trillions of dollars continue to flow into nature-negative activities, largely driven by private investments concentrated in sectors such as energy, utilities, industrials, and basic materials.
It added that these flows were reinforced by massive public subsidies for fossil fuels, agriculture, transport, and construction.
By contrast, the study noted that funding for nature-based solutions remained relatively small and heavily dependent on public sources, with private-sector investment accounting for only a fraction of total spending.
The UNEP document warned that in spite of growing awareness of the risks posed by biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, business and finance had yet to invest at scale in solutions that work with nature.
The report estimated that investments in nature-based solutions must grow rapidly to meet global needs by 2030, yet noted that the required level would represent just a tiny share of global economic output.
To address this imbalance, the UNEP report, however, introduced a new framework, the Nature Transition X-Curve, designed to help governments and businesses reform capital flows and accelerate investment in nature-positive solutions.
The framework outlines how harmful subsidies and destructive investments could be phased out while scaling up high-integrity nature-based solutions across key sectors of the economy.
The Nature Transition X-Curve also provided practical roadmaps toward what it described as a “trillion-dollar nature transition economy.”
It highlighted examples already being adopted globally, including greener cities to reduce heat, nature-friendly transport and energy infrastructure, and climate-positive building materials.
The report stressed that for nature-positive investments to succeed, they must be rooted in local ecological, cultural and social realities, while ensuring inclusivity and equity.
It warned that without a fundamental shift in how money flows, global efforts to halt environmental decline will remain out of reach.
UNEP Executive Director, Inger Andersen, in her reaction, said the findings underscored the scale of the challenge confronting the planet.
“If you follow the money, you see the size of the challenge ahead of us.
“We can either invest into nature’s destruction or power its recovery; there is no middle ground.
“While financing nature-based solutions crawls forward, harmful investments and subsidies are surging ahead,” Andersen said.
Germany’s Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, Reem Alabali-Radovan, said redirecting financial flows was critical to building a sustainable future.
“The world’s financial flows need an urgent shift – from degrading the environment to investments in nature-based solutions.
“The private sector plays a key role in this. German development policy supports partner countries in valuing their natural capital so that it can be taken into account in key policy decisions,” she said.
