We need to build a new business case for nature (FT)

Protecting nature is lovely but climate tech is cool. Learning from the success of the latter could be essential to bolstering the former: we need to move nature from the realm of nice-to-haves and place it firmly at the heart of the modern economy. While the climate fight is far from won, there is cause for cautious optimism. In 2022, the EU produced more power from wind and solar than from gas. The US Inflation Reduction Act marked the single largest-ever climate action taken by the world’s largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases. Global climate pledges, including from developing nations, have reached the point where they would keep the world well below 2C of warming if fully implemented.

Climate investments have also weathered the broader market slump. Last year saw a record near $500bn invested in renewable energy. There were over 1,000 venture and growth equity investments into climate start-ups in 2022; the number of deals grew in every quarter, with over $40bn deployed.

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Author: Christopher K. Merker, Ph.D., CFA

Christopher K. Merker, PhD, CFA, is a director with Private Asset Management at Robert W. Baird & Co. He holds a PhD in investment governance and fiduciary effectiveness from Marquette University, where he has taught the course “Sustainable Finance” since 2009. Executive director of Fund Governance Analytics (FGA), an ESG research partnership with Marquette University, he is a member of the CFA Institute ESG Working Group, an international committee currently exploring ESG standards, publishes the blog, Sustainable Finance, which covers current topics around governance and sustainability in investing, and is co-author of the book, The Trustee Governance Guide: The Five Imperatives of 21st Century Investing.