The Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Natural Capital Investment Alliance (NCIA) held an event on Tuesday at Kew Gardens to bring together Asset managers, bankers, policy makers and tech industry representatives to discuss how to scale and accelerate investment in Natural Capital.  

The first event from the NCIA, held in collaboration with the Green Finance Institute, also saw the announcement of a new chair of the NCIA, Tony O'Sullivan, Founder and Chair, Pollination.  

Following his appointment, Tony O'Sullivan, Founder and Chair, Pollination said: “Nature is at a tipping point – historically undervalued, its degradation threatens every aspect of the global economy and our way of life. However, with nature markets valued at more than $7trillion a year, we are in a new era of investing where nature impacts, dependencies and outcomes need to be considered across all types of assets.

“The SMI Natural Capital Investment Alliance (NCIA) has a crucial role to play, and I am honoured to be working with leaders in our field to accelerate the impact-focused Natural Capital investment solutions needed to restore the world’s natural ecosystems and halt biodiversity loss.”

This event saw discussions focussed on the evolutionary stage of nature investing at this time, including the role of metrics and disclosures to facilitate this. Interactive panels aimed to move the needle in a variety of areas including Fixed Income, discussing the way that Debt and Equity Markets are pricing natural investments; and Real Assets, including a comparative assessment to the conventional infrastructure markets 

The day also featured a heavy focus on biodiversity ahead of CBD COP15. A snapshot of a selection of Nature Tech offerings were demonstrated, highlighting their focus on the role of biodiversity credits vis a vis biodiversity credits and the role of policy in developing an enabling environment to encourage investments to preserve and restore natural capital and biodiversity was debated.   

The Natural Capital Investment Alliance was created in 2021 as part of the SMI, as a vehicle to deliver on the Terra Carta's ambitions. The alliance was formed in recognition of the need to mobilise investment in Nature-based economic opportunities, to help us arrive at a common language on Natural Capital investment and make it mainstream. 

The NCIA will next meet in Sharm el Sheikh at the SMI’s Terra Carta Action Forum.  

To learn more about the NCIA visit the NCIA SMI webpage.