An introduction to financial opportunities, ecological concepts, and risks underpinning aspirations for a nature-positive economy

Global biodiversity is in decline and businesses are being asked to urgently create new operating models to ameliorate the crisis. Amongst the strategies proposed to do this, the development of an economy that is ‘nature-positive’ has captured worldwide attention. Publicised as biodiversity’s catch-all equivalent for a carbon net-zero future, organisations from the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures to the World Economic Forum are calling for a transition to nature-positive, but little guidance exists as to what this means and how to do it. In this article, we outline financial opportunities, ecological concepts, and risks underpinning aspirations for a nature-positive economy, including seven financial instruments, and four ecological concepts that form the foundation of nature-positive (health, abundance, diversity, and resilience). We then outline six classes and 30 drivers of risk that could arise through poor design or implementation of the nature-positive economy, and touch on mitigation measures to prevent these.