Balance sheet · c. 2000–2025
The ledger
Money that moved in the name of nature, beside what nature lost over the same years. Figures come from different methods and are not added together.
1 : 33
For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature.
Money that moved
Nature-based solutions finance, 2023
$220bn
90% public, 10% private
UNEP, State of Finance for Nature 2026
Voluntary carbon market, all-time to 2025
$11–12.5bn
Peak year 2021, about $2bn
Ecosystem Marketplace; Forest Trends
Debt-for-nature swaps, 2021–2024
$5.6bn
Converted in seven deals; $1.8bn pledged to nature over 15–20 years
IDB; deal disclosures
Finance harmful to nature, 2023
$7.3tn
$4.9tn private, $2.4tn public subsidies
UNEP
What nature lost
Tree cover lost, 2001–2025
543m ha
About 14% of 2000 cover
Global Forest Watch / WRI
Monitored wildlife populations, 1970–2022
−73%
Average change in population size, not share of animals lost
Living Planet Index 2026
Wetlands lost since 1970
22%
411m ha
Global Wetland Outlook
Coral lost, 2009–2018
14%
About 11,700 km²
GCRMN
Reef area under bleaching-level heat, 2023–mid-2025
84%
Exposure, not mortality
NOAA
Terms used on this page
Carbon and conservation finance
- Debt-for-nature swap
- A deal in which a government's debt is bought back or refinanced at a discount, and part of the savings is committed to conservation.
- Voluntary carbon market
- Trade in carbon credits bought by choice, mostly by companies, outside legally binding emission schemes.
Institutions
- IDB
- The Inter-American Development Bank.
- NOAA
- The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which leads damage assessment for coastal and marine spills.
Science and environment
- Hectare (ha)
- A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.
- Wetland
- Land that is saturated or covered with water for long periods, such as marshes, swamps and peat bogs.