Target 15.a: Finance for biodiversity and ecosystems
Mobilize and significantly increase financial resources from all sources to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and ecosystems
Owners voting their values help. Others must carry most of it.
Why shareholder democracy is helpful
Biodiversity finance is dominated by public budgets and aid. UNEP's State of Finance for Nature 2023 finds close to $7 trillion a year flows to nature-negative activities, about $5 trillion of it private. The same report puts total nature-based solutions finance at only about $200 billion, with nature-negative flows 140 times larger than tracked private NbS investment. Redirecting that private capital is a shareholder task. Nature Action 100's more than 240 investors managing over $30 trillion are engaging 100 companies to reduce nature harm. Owners of bank, insurer and asset-manager shares can press for nature-positive lending and investment policies. Public budgets still dominate, so owners help at the margin.
How this was scoredHelpful
Helpful. Owners voting their values help. Others must carry most of it.
We have not yet written down the two answers behind this rating. Recording them on every item, so a reader can check the reasoning and not only the conclusion, is work in progress.
Every rating is the higher of two answers, one for what companies do and one for what they spend to stop the outcome, because the same vote reaches both. See the full method.
Sources
- State of Finance for Nature 2023, UN Environment Programme, 2023-12-09
- UNEP Report Exposes Disparity Between NbS, Nature-negative Finance Flows, IISD SDG Knowledge Hub, 2023-12-09
- Nature Action 100 releases its first status report showcasing initiative progress and investor insights, Nature Action 100, 2025-10-28
What civil society organizations are helping owners on this
Convenes over 240 investors with more than 30 trillion US dollars in assets to engage 100 companies on reducing nature harm and on nature-related financial risk.
Runs a pledge under which financial institutions commit to engage companies on biodiversity, assess impact, set targets and report publicly.
About the Pledge, Finance for Biodiversity Foundation, 2026-09
2 campaigns on record
Commit to collaborate and share knowledge, engage companies on biodiversity, assess impact, set targets and report publicly.
Result: not stated in source
About the Pledge, Finance for Biodiversity Foundation, 2026-09
Take timely and necessary steps to protect and restore nature and address nature-related financial risks.
Result: More than 240 investor participants representing over 30 trillion US dollars, with 50 or more new investors and 5 trillion US dollars added since September 2023
The status report puts the economic cost of nature loss in the priority sectors at 430 billion US dollars a year globally.
How this rating was made
Every item on every one of our maps is read against one question: how far does this depend on the people who own companies voting their values? We answer it twice, once for what companies do and once for what they spend to stop the outcome, and take whichever answer is higher, since the same vote reaches both. The score carries its reasoning and its sources so that a reader can check it rather than take it.
- Pivotal. Owners voting their values can deliver most of the outcome.
- Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes, and others must also act.
- Helpful. Owners voting their values help, and others carry most of it.
- Independent. This moves without owners. Other levers carry it.
The advocacy record on this page holds only what a source we opened says happened. Where we searched and found nothing, the page says so rather than leaving a silence. Where a campaign names a filer the source does not name, it says that too. Ratings are ours; the list of subjects is UN Sustainable Development Goals's, and we link to their original.
How we score dependency, in full.