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The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Paulson Institute and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have jointly launched Unlocking Private Finance for Nature as Infrastructure: A Public-Private Partnership, a report that sets out in practical terms how countries and financial institutions can integrate nature into infrastructure planning and mobilise private capital at scale through standardised public-private partnerships for nature (PPPNs). The work includes contributions from Morphosis and NatureFinance.
The report’s central proposition is the need to treat high-integrity ecosystems as infrastructure-grade investable public assets, and show how to protect and build their value through long-term contracts with measurable ecological performance. It stresses the need for governments to embed nature into national plans and budgets, and how PPPNs can align public objectives with private expertise, with guarantees, insurance solutions and biodiversity credits, helping to improve bankability and crowd in institutional investors.
It also outlines roles for multilateral development banks (MDBs) to help de-risk early transactions, support pipeline development and align policy, regulation and disclosure with nature outcomes that underpin development.
“We must move beyond abstract concepts of nature protection and recognise ecosystems as infrastructure – turning them into investable, high-integrity asset classes,” said Jin Liqun, President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the AIIB. “MDBs have a critical role in realising this shift by embedding nature into planning, finance and governance at scale.”
The report emphasises practical delivery: integrating ecosystems into national infrastructure pipelines; specifying outcome-based contracts and monitoring; and using fiscal and regulatory measures to provide market clarity. It also provides guidance on integrity: protecting Indigenous Peoples and local communities through land and data rights, and guaranteeing free, prior and informed consent or similarly internationally recognised standards and fair benefit-sharing – so that nature finance scales credibly and inclusively.
The report is also clear that private-sector investment in nature will happen at the necessary scale only if governments appropriately value nature, penalising those who damage and destroy it and rewarding those who protect and restore it.
Henry M Paulson Jr, Founder and Chairman of the Paulson Institute, emphasised, “At this critical crossroads, for essential action to happen at scale, governments must lead the way and set the rules that drive investment towards nature protection and restoration and away from damage and destruction. This work is not optional – it’s foundational. Nature is not a luxury. It’s not free. It’s our support system. And it’s disappearing before our eyes. We must act – not someday, not incrementally. Now.”
The partners identify priority applications, such as watershed resilience, coastal protection and forest conservation, where PPPNs can aggregate projects, reduce transaction costs and deliver measurable resilience benefits. They highlight how guarantees and insurance can protect performance over time and how high-integrity biodiversity credits can create outcome-linked revenue streams within PPPN platforms where appropriate.
“To scale investment in nature, we must build financial partnerships that deliver measurable outcomes. That means deploying the full suite of catalytic tools in ways that attract private capital and align public ambition with market expertise,” said Odile Renaud-Basso, President of the EBRD.
The report addresses sovereign considerations, including the integration of natural capital into public financial management and the potential for improved credit profiles as natural assets are better managed and valued.
The partners of this report will work with governments, regulators, MDBs, banks and investors to translate the report’s guidance into investment-ready PPPN pipelines, integrate guarantees and insurance into platform finance, and support efforts to account for natural capital in sovereign planning and credit frameworks.