Leaders urged to prioritize nature as a cornerstone of economic resilience and climate action.
On the closing day of the G20 Summit, the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) Africa Council (SMIAC) tabled the G20 Nature Investment Roadmap: A Leaders’ Guide to Formalizing African Nature as an Investable Asset Class on Public and Private Balance Sheets.
This pivotal roadmap, championed by the SMI Africa Council, calls on G20 Heads of State to redefine economic frameworks by embedding natural capital as an investable asset class. It provides a clear and actionable strategy for the global community to recognize the immense economic value of nature while safeguarding it for generations to come.
Nature: The Foundation of Global Resilience
Nature is the bedrock of societal well-being, economic stability, and climate resilience, yet it remains grossly undervalued. As global leaders increasingly recognize the critical link between natural ecosystems and economic vitality, the demand for investable, verifiable, and quantifiable commitments to restore and preserve nature has reached unprecedented levels.
The annual global nature investment gap has ballooned to $800 billion, highlighting the urgent need for bold, transformative global action. The Roadmap underscores the importance of institutional investor-public partnerships to scale up capital flows and deploy investments that protect biodiversity, mitigate climate risks, and unlock sustainable growth—particularly in Africa, a continent uniquely positioned to lead this effort.
Unlocking Africa’s Natural Capital for Global Prosperity
Africa’s natural capital—its forests, wetlands, biodiversity, and ecosystems—offers a transformative economic opportunity. Properly integrating this capital into corporate and public accounting systems will attract billions in financing, drive progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and fulfill Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Dr. Hubert Danso, Co-Chair of the SMI Africa Council, stressed the urgency of action:
“Institutional investors commanding over $300 trillion globally can decarbonize their portfolios, but they cannot de-nature them. By fostering institutional investor-public partnerships, we can create a nature-positive investment landscape that delivers for nature, people, and the planet.”
Five Bold Actions for Leaders
The Roadmap calls on Heads of State to demonstrate “Nature Investment Statesmanship” by taking five decisive actions:
- Champion the integration of International Accounting Standard (IAS) 37 and IAS 38 to report emissions and nature investments as obligations and assets.
- Incentivize private ecosystem investment through tax breaks under IAS 38.
- Establish national natural capital frameworks to quantify and account for biodiversity and natural assets in NDC’s and national strategies.
- Invest in geo-spatial data infrastructure to enable accurate and transparent natural capital reporting.
- Encourage private institutions to mainstream natural capital in risk assessments and transition plans.
Closing the Gap, Building a Sustainable Future
The Roadmap offers detailed recommendations to standardize accounting frameworks, embed IAS 37 and IAS 38 standards, and bridge the $800 billion annual funding gap for nature-positive investments. These efforts are essential for addressing the interconnected crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.
With the historic opportunities presented by South Africa’s G20 Presidency, the Finance COP29 Presidency, and Brazil’s COP30 Presidency, the SMI Africa Council’s Roadmap serves as a transformative blueprint for integrating natural capital into global economic systems.
Dr. Danso concluded:
“Together, we can deliver transformative global climate action that benefits nature, people, and the planet—today and for generations to come.”
Ends
About The Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) – www.sustainable-markets.org
Established by His Majesty King Charles III and launched at Davos, The Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) is the ‘go-to’ CEO-led private sector organisation on the transition to a sustainable future.
About The SMI Africa Council (SMIAC)
The SMI Africa Council (SMIAC) was led by His Majesty King Charles III in recognition of the current realities of the African continent’s 1.3 billion people, and the shared ambition of its 55 countries to establish a common position through the Nairobi Declaration (Africa’s Green Investment Deal) in combatting climate change, biodiversity loss and fulfilling its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”).
Launched in November 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya, the SMIAC champions scalable collective action by business, finance/investment, and government leaders to benefit people, the planet, and nature.
