Nature Finance
The goal: To build understanding of nature finance and explore how financial systems can support thriving ecosystems, resilient communities, and long-term ecological and economic well-being.
Nature provides essential services that communities, businesses, and governments rely on every day. Healthy ecosystems help store carbon, reduce flood, drought, and wildfire risks, improve water quality and supply, and support biodiversity. Yet these benefits are often undervalued within traditional economic and financial systems, creating challenges for the long-term protection, restoration, and stewardship of natural systems.
Nature finance is an emerging field that seeks to align financial investment with environmental and community outcomes. As the field evolves, there is growing interest in approaches that not only conserve and restore nature, but also contribute to broader economic transformation. This includes regenerative finance, which aims to support systems that generate lasting ecological, social, and economic value while addressing the root causes of environmental degradation.
Nested within ACT's Natural Solutions Initiative (NSI), This project explores the evolving landscape of nature finance through research, case studies, and knowledge sharing. The goal is to make emerging concepts, financial structures, and implementation approaches more accessible to governments, Indigenous Nations, practitioners, conservation organizations, investors, and other decision-makers working to advance nature-based solutions and resilient communities.
Conservation Finance
ACT’s initial publications focus on conservation finance, an important and rapidly growing area within the broader nature finance landscape. Developed in partnership with Watersheds BC and the Fraser Basin Council, Exploring Conservation Finance: Insights and Opportunities for BC Watersheds examines how impact bonds, payments for ecosystem services, and voluntary carbon markets are being applied in Canada and identifies opportunities to use conservations finance to strengthen watershed security across British Columbia. The research highlights the growing momentum around conservation finance while identifying the governance, investment, partnership, and project development conditions needed to accelerate implementation.
This report is the first in an ongoing series designed to build an accessible evidence base for conservation finance in Canada. It is complemented by a series of case studies that highlight the finance mechanisms in practice. The mechanisms focus on proven, revenue-generating mechanisms that have been successfully implemented in Canada. Over the course of this series, multiple case studies will be published for each mechanism. While priority will be given to operational initiatives that have successfully secured funding, case studies also examine projects in the early stages of development and one project from outside of Canada. Recognizing that emerging initiates offer important insights into enabling conditions and barriers to implementation.
Click below to explore the latest nature finance case studies:
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LEGEND
🔍 Early Investigation: Project partners have started exploring the feasability of this mechanism.
📋Investigation Complete: An initial investigation has been completed, and project partners are looking to move into the next stage of seeking investors and/or buyers.
✅Operational Funding Secured: The project is active or complete, and project partners have successfully secured funding.
🔸Indigenous-led: Majority ownership and control in the project is by Indigenous individuals or entities. Governance and decision-making is held by Indigenous people(s).
