The Earth’s assets have a critical role to play in tackling climate change.
Mangroves are a prime example: their dense coastal forests store carbon up to 400 per cent faster than land-based tropical rainforests, as well as provide breeding grounds for marine biodiversity and protection against extreme weather.
That’s why we worked with a company in our portfolio, renewable energy business Zephyr Power, to implement a mangrove restoration project at their wind power plant in Pakistan. The wind farm is built in a tidal and coastal location and may become exposed to increased flooding over time due to rising sea levels. The mangrove project is both building resiliency to the effects of climate change by protecting infrastructure and creating new economic opportunities for the local community. For example, local fishermen are seeing their catches increase.
We wanted to look at these economic values more systematically and show other global investors how they can benefit from integrating nature-based approaches in their projects.
So, we partnered with environmental finance specialists Earth Security to develop a case study on the initiative at Zephyr Power. The research shows that investing in mangrove regeneration at Zephyr Power could help save up to US$7 million in maintenance costs over the project’s 25-year timeframe, while doubling the income of local communities.
We are delighted to share these findings as part of new research published today by Earth Security presenting the business case and practical proposals to mobilise global finance for nature-based solutions.
The report, Financing the Earth’s Assets: The Case for Mangroves as a Nature-based Climate Solution, finds that global investment in mangrove regeneration could return US$11.8 billion by 2040 if carbon markets were to reflect the true value of nature.
The report draws on examples of where these recommendations have already been put into practice and models that can be used to finance the proposals, including the initiative at Zephyr Power. It also details a comprehensive plan to regenerate mangrove forests and carbon sequestration more effectively than today’s scattered offset projects.
We hope the findings of this report will assist other investors to understand the case for investing in nature-based solutions, particularly in coastal environments.
Read the full report on Earth Security’s website
Read more about our mangrove restoration project at Zephyr Power
