What does it take to establish nature-based infrastructure (NBI) as an asset class?
Investors need to shift away from business as usual and embrace a vision that encompasses several dimensions of work that are interlinked. The systemic linkages between knowledge, finance, and policy are particularly crucial to enabling well-informed investment decisions that encapsulate all possible trade-offs.
The NBI Global Resource Centre has developed an action plan that will help establish NBI as a distinct asset class.
We used a systemic approach to develop the action plan presented above. With our interdisciplinary team, we discussed the various elements and limits of a given system related to a specific environment. In doing so, we identified the system’s pressure points and built an understanding of their key functions to unlock the potential for NBI to be propelled to an asset class.
The NBI Global Resource Centre’s activities have been developed with this action plan in mind. First, the Center provides knowledge with valuations of more than 40 NBI projects across the globe that are co-created with local project proponents. Second, it offers an online database and training on NBI valuations. This knowledge will enable further advances on the policy and finance sides. Specifically, the NBI Global Resource Centre will work on improving policy coherence, making knowledge available to decision-makers and providing a communication platform for interested stakeholders. Finally, the Center will advance financial analysis, increasing transparency and rigour to create the necessary conditions for leveraging the ongoing efforts of the financial community.
