50 Investible Opportunities for a New Nature Economy 2026

ACTION 1Priority actions for financial institutions to support nature-positive opportunities3 Financial institutions can accelerate the nature-positive transition by embedding nature into core strategy, financing practices and market collaboration. Build institutional nature fluency* to mainstream nature-positive investments and financing Many companies and financial institutions have already invested heavily in net-zero capabilities, including risk assessments, transition planning and green finance frameworks. These can be used as the entry point for nature: by expanding existing climate-related conversations, tools and training, corporate teams can frame nature-related risks and opportunities within the same strategic and risk context. Awareness of concrete nature impacts and activities is often fragmented across teams. The opportunity list presented in this report can be used as the basis for discussions to build practical awareness across front office, risk and product teams – for example, to identify relevant opportunities for both sustainable financing and traditional lending or as the basis for discussions on thematic priorities. Nature-related frameworks, which are still emerging, are not yet consistently reflected in core decision rules. To embed these into day- to-day operations, financial institutions should update key frameworks, including risk appetites, credit and investment policies, eligibility criteria, procurement standards, product governance and sustainable finance policies – so they recognise a broader range of nature-positive activities. This should be underpinned by building an internal consensus around what “nature positive” means, to allow teams to label, track and measure nature- positive activities consistently across portfolios. That definition can draw on emerging frameworks, guidance and tools (e.g. internal classifications or taxonomies) while remaining practical enough to be applied in real transactions. Additional literature can help – increasingly, global initiatives are producing more work focusing on nature-positive opportunities:24 –TNFD published a Discussion paper on nature- related opportunities in November 2025. –Global Canopy has published its Little Book of Nature Business, which includes an investment framework for key sectors and value chains and further explores specific investment opportunities. –The World Economic Forum’s September 2025 report Financing Solutions for Nature: Pathways to Returns and Outcomes goes into more depth on the financing instruments that can support these opportunities.Mobilizing capital at scale into nature-positive investments is essential to accelerate the transition to a nature-positive economy while delivering resilient growth and risk-adjusted returns. By embedding the following five priority actions into their strategies, financial institutions can build a robust pipeline of nature-positive opportunities, supporting the transition from early innovation to transformative scale. * “Nature fluency” can be defined as the capacity of institutions to understand nature-related risks and opportunities as routinely and credibly as they do climate, credit or market risk – and embed nature into mainstream finance. 50 Investible Opportunities for a New Nature Economy 34