Off the charts? Reasons to be skeptical of the growth in biodiversity finance

IF 6.6 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability Pub Date : 2025-07-12 DOI:10.1016/j.cosust.2025.101544

Jens Christiansen , Audrey Irvine-Broque , Jessica Dempsey , Sara Nelson , Elizabeth Shapiro-Garza , Patrick Bigger , Mine Islar

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Recent estimates point to dramatic increases in private capital flowing to biodiversity. Examining main sources of this increase — equity investments and debt — this review asks how biodiversity finance is being calculated, and whether private capital flowing to biodiversity action is growing as much as reported. Furthermore, by examining the literature on the standards and metrics, we ask whether these increases are likely to facilitate biodiverse outcomes. Ultimately, some growth can be ascribed to conceptual innovations in measuring biodiversity-related finance. In several cases, the dollar value represented in nominally biodiversity-related transactions does not reflect actual amounts spent on biodiversity. This review points to a risk of overestimating private financing of biodiversity targets, which may generate overconfidence in this approach. Consequently, this review argues that optimism for private capital solutions should be tempered and accompanied by an upscaling of policy alternatives and regulations that address the financial drivers of biodiversity loss.

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打破排行榜？对生物多样性金融增长持怀疑态度的理由

最近的估计表明，流向生物多样性的私人资本急剧增加。这篇综述考察了这一增长的主要来源——股权投资和债务——并询问如何计算生物多样性融资，以及流向生物多样性行动的私人资本是否像报道的那样增长。此外，通过检查有关标准和指标的文献，我们询问这些增加是否可能促进生物多样性的结果。最终，一些增长可以归因于衡量生物多样性相关融资的概念创新。在一些情况下，名义上与生物多样性有关的交易所代表的美元价值并不反映用于生物多样性的实际金额。这篇综述指出了高估生物多样性目标的私人融资的风险，这可能会对这种方法产生过度的信心。因此，本综述认为，对私人资本解决方案的乐观态度应有所缓和，并伴随着解决生物多样性丧失的财务驱动因素的政策选择和法规的升级。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES-ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

CiteScore

13.80

自引率

2.80%

发文量

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： "Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (COSUST)" is a distinguished journal within Elsevier's esteemed scientific publishing portfolio, known for its dedication to high-quality, reproducible research. Launched in 2010, COSUST is a part of the Current Opinion and Research (CO+RE) suite, which is recognized for its editorial excellence and global impact. The journal specializes in peer-reviewed, concise, and timely short reviews that provide a synthesis of recent literature, emerging topics, innovations, and perspectives in the field of environmental sustainability.