The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group and the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group) and, on behalf of the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) Nature Working Group and with support of the Brazilian Government, unveiled today a transformative new tool to accelerate investment in nature.
The new strategic guidance Financing Nature: A Practitioner’s Guide to Result Metrics Selection aims to unlock financing for nature and climate by helping project developers, commercial and public institutions as well as investors select robust, effective, outcome-oriented metrics that align with global biodiversity and climate objectives.
The launch took place in a high-level event hosted by Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change during COP30. The session featured keynote remarks from Deputy Minister João Paulo and IDB President Ilan Goldfajn, followed by a panel of global leaders in nature finance.
“Nature-positive investments are essential for achieving climate and economic resilience objectives,” said EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle. “The guidance we are launching today is a key step toward ensuring that mobilised financial flows deliver real and lasting benefits for people, climate and biodiversity.”
“Investing in nature is investing in resilience and sustainable development,” said IDB Group President Ilan Goldfajn. “But we cannot manage what we don’t measure, and we cannot finance what we cannot explain. This Guidance, the Belém Framework for Nature Finance, we call “Belem Alignment”, turns ambition into action by providing practitioners common nature metrics that investors can trust.”
Global estimates suggest that $300 billion in annual investment in forests and ecosystem restoration is needed by 2030 to halt natural forest loss and restore degraded landscapes. From mangroves in Ivory Coast to coral reefs in the Caribbean to peatlands in Europe, each ecosystem requires tailored indicators. Yet the nature finance landscape is fragmented, with over 600 indicators and hundreds of metrics that often track activities rather than ecological outcomes. This complexity slows investments.
The new guidance addresses this issue head-on, drawing on reviews of over 70 institutions, 10 frameworks, and 156 metrics. Developed with technical support from The Biodiversity Consultancy, it promotes metrics that:
- Avoid nature-washing through evidence-based claims.
- Align with leading standards from the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, Science Based Targets Network, International Finance Corporation, and the International Capital Market Association.
- Measure outcomes, not just activities.
- Strengthen monitoring and verification systems with traceability and community participation.
- Link results to finance, supporting the selection of clear, easy-to-understand metrics that can be explained to investors, making nature finance more investable.
The guidance is already being piloted in Brazil, informing the design of the Eco Invest Brazil program, which combines project preparation, blended finance, and liquidity tools to promote green investments. With over $4,2 billion mobilized from the national treasury and $9 billion leveraged from private banks, Eco Invest is a model for scaling nature-positive financing.
Today’s event also highlighted other innovative instruments, including debt-for-nature swaps, sustainability-linked bonds, and performance-based payments for forest preservation.
The guidance is a voluntary, flexible, and user-oriented tool applicable across asset classes and ecosystems. While not an operational requirement for MDBs, it is designed to be used by governments, financial institutions, and NGOs alike to increase efficiency, comparability, and credibility in nature finance.
As COP30 brings climate and nature together on the global stage, the IDB and EIB reaffirm their commitment to making biodiversity finance more effective, scalable, and aligned with real outcomes. The guidance is a key deliverable of the MDBs’ Viewpoint Note: MDBs Working as a System for Impact and Scale, and reflects implementation of the MDBs Joint Statement on Nature, People, and Planet.
EIB Group at COP30
An overview of EIB Group activities at the UN climate conference, known as COP30, is available on the organisation’s website. The EIB Group shares a pavilion with the group of multilateral development banks. The full agenda is available here.
EIB Group Climate Bank Roadmap Phase Two
The EIB Group is pressing ahead with phase two of its pioneering Climate Bank Roadmap, staying the course as anchor financier of the green industrial revolution, energy security and shared prosperity. Building on the great success of our Climate Bank Roadmap since its launch in 2020, the second phase of the roadmap sets out the EIB Group’s priorities through to the end of this decade, supporting Europe’s competitiveness, security, technological leadership, doubling adaptation finance while simplifying its procedures to accelerate green investment.
Background information
The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. The EIB finances investments in eight core priorities that support EU policy objectives: climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, cohesion, agriculture and the bioeconomy, social infrastructure, a stronger Europe in a more peaceful and prosperous world and Europe’s capital markets union.
The EIB Group, which also includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), signed nearly €89 billion in new financing for over 900 high-impact projects in 2024, boosting Europe’s competitiveness and security.
Approximately half of the EIB's financing within the EU targets cohesion regions, where per-capita income is below the EU average, while almost 60% of annual EIB Group investments support climate action and environmental sustainability.
High-quality, up-to-date photos of the organisation’s headquarters for media use are available here.
About EIB Global
EIB Global is the EIB Group’s specialised arm dedicated to increasing the impact of international partnerships and development finance. EIB Global is designed to foster strong, focused partnership within Team Europe, alongside fellow development finance institutions, and civil society. EIB Global brings the Group closer to local people, companies and institutions through our offices across the world.
About the IDB Group
The Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group) is the leading source of financing and knowledge for improving lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. It comprises the IDB, which works with the region’s public sector and enables the private sector; IDB Invest, which directly supports private companies and projects; and IDB Lab, which spurs entrepreneurial innovation.
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