Financing Nature's Adaptive Capacity

This report examines five case studies of innovative mechanisms designed to mobilize private capital into adaptive Nature-based solutions (NbS) across the world through desk research and close interviews with the managers or investment directors of the funds. The cases, which include Forest Carbon, Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund, Landbanking Group, Impact Earth, and Wildfire Resilience Insurance, provide insights into how NbS projects and investments are increasingly recognized as adaptation investments as these two spaces converge. The findings from these case studies are not exhaustive, but rather provide some lessons and challenges for scaling finance for nature-based adaptation through the design of financial vehicles.

The case studies in this report illustrate that it is possible to unlock private capital for nature and adaptation, but 
doing so at scale requires targeted action across three fronts: designing finance mechanisms 
intentionally for adaptation outcomes, developing credible and consistent impact metrics, and 
aligning incentives to shift behavior and investment.