Climate and Nature: A Route to Mutual Acceleration

28 September 2023 - A new briefing from CISL sets out the rationale for joint action between climate and nature. It offers six critical actions for business, government and financial institutions to transform our societies and economies towards a nature positive future.

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How do we secure the future of our planet and prevent average temperature rise climbing above 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050? What is becoming clear is that the answer to this question cannot focus on mitigating emissions alone. There is increasing recognition of the contribution of nature to meeting our common desire for a cleaner, greener, more prosperous planet.

Nature underpins the functioning of society and the economy – but it is in crisis and is getting worse. Human action is the cause of this crisis – and the only solution to it. We need to scale up and accelerate the path to transformative action.

This briefing sets out 6 critical actions for business, government and financial institutions to transform our societies and economies towards a nature positive future:

1. Place nature at the heart of policymaking and regulation. Only by delivering effective stewardship of nature will policymakers be able to provide the security and prosperity that underpin people’s livelihoods and sense of wellbeing. Strong policy incentives will be instrumental in determining the success of our efforts to revitalise nature.
2. Integrate nature into financial decision-making. The financial economy mirrors the real economy. By integrating nature into financial decision making, the real economy can begin prioritising nature protection and restoration. This integration can ensure capital is redirected away from destructive activities and towards those that restore and protect nature.
3. Integrate nature as a core component of business models, strategy setting and external engagement. Thinking differently about their business models will help companies to ensure they restore and protect nature rather than destroy it, building on an understanding that there can be no business on a dead planet.
4. Support individual behaviour changes that allow everyone to live more in harmony with nature. Understanding the barriers individuals face in making everyday decisions that benefit nature, and how these can be overcome, requires joined-up thinking from policymakers and businesses to encourage behaviour that supports a nature positive pathway.
5. Develop shared approaches to natural assets like land and water that allow them to be managed in a way that protects and restores thriving ecosystems and communities. Limited natural assets like land and water will be increasingly critical to meet people’s growing needs.
6. Shift value chains and industries and supply chains to address the drivers of nature destruction. Economic production processes must be rethought to minimise impacts on nature, particularly in critical sectors such as fashion, food and agriculture, and water management.

CISL works to address the crisis in nature by putting the relationship between humans and ecosystems at the heart of our work to convene, educate, innovate and provide the required foresight to effect positive change.

Citing these reports

Please refer to this publication as: University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). (2023). Climate and Nature: A Route to Mutual Acceleration. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership