Research from the Environmental Change Institute underpins a report from the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA), which shows that investing in nature can be a highly cost-effective way to reduce climate risks.
The report, Adaptation insights – pathways to scale investments in nature-based solutions for climate adaptation, highlights that Nature-based Solutions (NbS)—such as restoring forests, wetlands, and mangroves—can deliver between 2 and 8 dollars in benefits for every dollar invested. These benefits come from reduced flood and erosion damage, improved infrastructure resilience, and wider social and environmental gains.
Despite this strong evidence base, NbS remain significantly underfunded, in part because their full value is difficult to measure and incorporate into standard infrastructure investment decisions.
The analysis draws on ECI-led research and datasets developed in collaboration with GCA, combining spatial analysis and economic valuation to identify high-impact nature-based solutions. These datasets underpin spatial risk assessments presented in the report and are also available through tools such as the GRI Risk Viewer, developed by the Oxford Programme for Sustainable Infrastructure Systems (OPSIS) at the ECI.
The findings build on earlier work by the Environmental Change Institute and GCA on scaling investments in nature-based solutions for climate adaptation, including methods for assessing avoided damages and infrastructure risk reduction.
Read the underlying ECI–GCA research:
Global opportunity areas for nature-based solutions to reduce risks to infrastructure
Global tools to unlock capital for investments in nature-based solutions