News

In his monthly column in the new Sustainable Business Review, Mike Scott analyses the latest news developments in sustainable finance, from the boom in ESG funds to biodiversity climbing up the investment agenda

Earth Security’s new report proposes the financing of mangroves as a powerful nature-based climate solution. The report quantifies the value of mangroves as an asset for investors, and proposes a blueprint to embed this value in the financing of climate adaptation of vulnerable cities. In doing so, Earth Security is proposing to use nature-based solution as a cost-effective way to close the gap in financing of $65 trillion that cities need to upgrade their infrastructure to deal with climate change by 2030.

Following her participation in a webinar of our Financing Earth’s Assets programme, we caught up with Jennifer Pryce, President and CEO of Calvert Impact Capital to explore her thinking on nature-based investments. She has invested in some of the most promising transactions in this space, from the world’s first ‘sovereign blue bond’ issued by the Republic of the Seychelles, to innovative ‘forest resilience bonds’ that address wildfires in California. At the start of 2021, we reflect with Jennifer on the measures that can accelerate the pace of change.

Forbes covers the launch of Earth Security's mangroves report. “The evidence on the value of nature is clear. But we must move faster and more boldly in investing in nature’s assets; from isolated small projects to a planetary scale,” said Alejandro Litovsky, chief executive of Earth Security. “The mind-boggling economic value of mangroves as a climate solution is a perfect example of why investing in natural assets is the route to align ecological and economic returns.”

London & Copenhagen, 10 December 2020. A new report by Earth Security, environmental finance specialists, finds global investment in mangrove regeneration could return $11.8 billion by 2040 if carbon markets were to reflect the true value of nature.

In one of the worst typhoon seasons to ever hit the Philippines, Earth Security and the Asian Institute of Management launched the ‘Bridging Leaders Initiative for Climate Resilience’ (BLICR).

Almost half of humanity, and some of the world’s largest cities and industrial zones, are located within 100 km of a coast. They are critically exposed to climate change. The coastal ecosystems that protect them are on an accelerated global ecological decline. Innovative finance partnerships will be needed to scale the conservation and regeneration of their ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, climate risk mitigation and supporting local economies.

Financing nature-based climate solutions offers companies and investors an opportunity to drive carbon sequestration, biodiversity protection and securing the livelihoods of vulnerable communities on a planetary scale.

UBS has launched a bank-wide initiative for the protection of the world’s oceans, featuring Earth Security's strategic recommendations for the impact investors and philanthropists that the bank advises.

London – 21 January 2020. Earth Security convened a group of partners and leading impact finance institutions to discuss how to mobilise finance to the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, in a way that aligns with climate targets but also delivers tangible development benefits in line with the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

With rice the main staple for half the planet, green bonds to inventivise 150 million smallholder rice farmers to adopt climate-smart practices may help avoid social unrest as well as global warming, argues Earth Security’s Alejandro Litovsky

Leveraging climate finance to scale climate-smart rice production will unlock financing for sustainable rice value chains.

New finance solutions, such as bonds attached to sustainable rice harvesting, are urgently needed to unlock private sector finance in support of global food security and climate resilience, according to consultancy Earth Security Group.

Swiss finance giant credit Suisse has partnered with The World Bank to issue a $28.6m (£22.2m) bond aimed at financing the protection and restoration of fresh and saltwater resources and habitats.

Rice could trigger the climate agenda’s ‘Arab Spring moment’. The staple commodity feeds 3.5 billion people uses 40% of the world’s irrigation water and is acutely sensitive to climate impacts. Being a subsistence crop, the knock-on effects of supply shortfalls on social unrest are high, underlining how important it is to put food security at the centre of climate solutions.

London, 25 November 2019 – A new report launched today by Earth Security finds that innovative finance solutions are urgently needed to unlock private sector finance for climate-smart rice production with significant impact on global food security and climate resilience.

London and Manila, 19 September 2019. A new report launched today by Earth Security documents a series of pioneering platforms it has developed over the past two years in collaboration with local action partners, to enable the private sector to play a greater role in scaling ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA). The report is launched on eve of the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA)’s call for urgent action to innovate on nature-based solutions to climate adaptation.

The call for more SDG financing is not just about quantity; we must focus on quality, with a strategic impact focus.

It is no secret that declining pharmaceuticals exports have been worrying not just pharma honchos but the Prime Minister’s Office as well. The slide has not been sudden. Trading Economics’ data shows that pharma exports decreased to $2086.32 million in 2016 from $6488.40 million in 2015. They averaged $3902.05 million from 1996 until 2016, reaching an all time high of $11140.5 million in 2013 and a record low of $672 million in 1996.

Last month, Nedbank Group, one of South Africa’s largest banks, released the 2018 edition of its Sustainable Development Review, which details their sustainable development efforts, commitments, achievements and contribution to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

London May 8, 2019. Earth Security Partnerships (ESP) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) today launched a strategic partnership to boost the quality of information available to global decision-makers regarding investments that will advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Earth Security and The Asian Institute of Management TeaM Energy Center for Bridging Leadership (AIMTEC) co-organised the "Business Action for Climate Resilience" workshop.

This week a new sustainable finance brief was released, serving as a blueprint to guide collaboration between investors and governments to align global investments with water security.

Over 60 of the leading companies and banks in the Philippines came together in a workshop convened and led by Earth Security to jointly define and pursue forward-thinking opportunities to support ecosystem-based climate resilience and adaptation.

UN Environment’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative partner with WWF and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre to launch global insurance industry commitment to protect World Heritage sites