State of Finance for Forests 2025

United Nations 1 year ago

The first State of Finance for Forests (SFF) report: Unlock. Unleash. Realizing forest potential requires tripling investments in forests by 2030 provides a global overview of public and private forest finance in 2023, comparing current flows with the investments needed to realize forests’ potential to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation.  It integrates key private finance channels and nature-related asset classes such as certified commodity supply chains, impact investing, carbon and biodiversity markets, philanthropic funding, and private capital mobilized through public finance. The report finds that forests remain significantly underfunded: annual investment must increase from US$84 billion in 2023 to US$300 billion by 2030 and US$498 billion by 2050, leaving an annual gap of about US$216 billion.  Private forest finance remains modest at US$7.5 billion in 2023, with most flows directed to lower-risk markets rather than tropical commodities that drive the bulk of deforestation. At the same time, potentially environmentally damaging subsidies reached around US$406 billion in 2023, and private financial institutions provided an estimated US$8.9 trillion in active financing to companies with high deforestation risk as of November 2024.
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layersDaily Sustainability Digest

Published about 10 hours ago



Sustainable construction is moving beyond operational emissions towards whole life carbon, embodied carbon, nature, waste, grid capacity and building lifecycle performance. UN biodiversity talks have underlined that environmental sustainability in construction cannot rely on “nature-positive” claims without finance, stronger regulation and action on harmful subsidies. Planning, procurement and investor scrutiny are set to place greater weight on the environmental impact of construction, including embodied carbon in materials, ecological damage and the carbon footprint of construction across the full asset life.

The UK circular economy is becoming a commercial driver for low carbon design and sustainable building practices. WRAP’s estimate that stronger circular measures could add more than £93bn in gross value and support 550,000 jobs strengthens the business case for life cycle thinking in construction, resource efficiency in construction and end-of-life reuse in construction. Designing for repair, reuse and material recovery is central to circular economy in construction, reducing demolition waste while improving life cycle cost, lifecycle assessment outcomes and whole life carbon assessment. Birmingham’s new recycling and reuse hub shows the type of infrastructure needed to support circular construction strategies at scale.

Energy infrastructure is becoming critical to net zero carbon buildings and decarbonising the built environment. Approval for National Grid’s 2GW Sea Link between Suffolk and Kent supports electrification, heat pumps, electric construction processes and lower-carbon operation, strengthening the foundations for energy-efficient buildings and net zero carbon delivery. Grid expansion remains essential if sustainable urban development and carbon footprint reduction are to move from ambition to dependable performance.

Research from the University of Surrey reinforces the role of sustainable building design, eco-design for buildings and sustainable architecture in healthier, more efficient interiors. Indoor plants and living walls can improve air quality and reduce cooling demand, supporting passive design, green infrastructure and low-impact construction. Biophilic design is not a substitute for fabric-first retrofit, low embodied carbon materials, environmental product declarations (EPDs) or robust sustainable material specification, but it is increasingly part of the same whole life carbon conversation.

The direction of travel is clear: green construction is shifting from niche specification to operating model. Net zero whole life carbon, BREEAM, BREEAM v7, renewable building materials, green building materials and low carbon construction materials are becoming core considerations for developers seeking resilient, low carbon building performance. The future of eco-friendly construction will be defined by whole life carbon assessment, circular economy delivery, credible lifecycle assessment and transparent decisions that cut the carbon footprint of construction while improving long-term value.

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